NewsClick Raids: Who was under Delhi Police’s radar? What have the cops recovered?

The Delhi Police raids at the moment (3 October) at over 30 locations linked to the information portal NewsClick and its staff have created a political controversy, with the INDIA bloc slamming the Centre over the transfer. The police performed searches at greater than 35 areas, together with homes of journalists related to NewsClick.

As per a number of studies, a case was filed by the Delhi Police in opposition to the information portal below the stringent anti-terror regulation Illegal Actions (Prevention) Act or UAPA on 17 August after a New York Instances investigation alleged that NewsClick was amongst organisations that obtained funds from American millionaire Neville Roy Singham to push “Chinese propaganda”.

The Delhi Police have reportedly sealed the workplace of NewsClick. 

Who was raided? What have the police recovered? Let’s take a more in-depth look.

Journalists, activists and extra

The homes of current and former NewsClick journalists, contributors and staff appear to have been raided thus far.

The Delhi Police reportedly performed searches on the residences of NewsClick Editor Prabir Purkayastha, video journalist Abhisar Sharma, political commentator and senior journalist Aunindyo Chakravarty, journalists Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Bhasha Singh, and Urmilesh.

Purkayastha, the founder and editor-in-chief of NewsClick, can also be a founding member of the Delhi Science Discussion board, a non-profit organisation.

As per BBC, journalist Bhasha Singh has reported “extensively on manual scavenging and farmers’ suicides in northern India”.

Journalist Abhisar Sharma has beforehand labored for BBC Hindi and NDTV. He took to X earlier within the day and wrote, “Delhi police landed at my home. Taking away my laptop and Phone”.

Identified for his political satires, Sanjay Rajoura is a slapstick comedian and a member of the trio Aisi Taisi Democracy.

Historian Sohail Hashmi has been organising talks and heritage walks on Delhi’s historical past for greater than a decade. Talking to The Quint, Hashmi’s daughter, Sarah, mentioned that six officers “barged into” their Delhi residence at 6 am and carried out a seek for over 1.5 hours.

“Initially, they barged into our house without showing us the search warrant. They only said that they want to investigate all those linked to the NewsClick investigation. Upon asking them again, we were handed over the warrant which my father (Sohail Hashmi) read. He was questioned by the officials and was asked what he does, and who he is associated with. They have seized his laptop, phone, hard disk and pen drives,” she was quoted as saying.

A number of journalists, together with Chakravarty, Urmilesh, Thakurta, Sharma, Purkayastha, and Satyam Tiwari, had been taken to Delhi Police’s particular cell headquarters for questioning, as per The Wire report.

No arrests have been made thus far.

A raid was additionally carried out at Communist Celebration of India (Marxist) chief Sitaram Yechury’s residence. As per NDTV, the son of the politician’s workers member who works for NewsClick was questioned and his telephone and laptop computer had been seized.

In Mumbai, the police raided the home of activist Teesta Setalvad, who in line with The Wire, is the director of suppose tank Tricontinental: Institute for Social Analysis, which has contributed articles to NewsClick.

Inside Delhi Police’s raids

The Delhi police seized digital units like cell phones and laptops throughout the raids. They’ve additionally taken knowledge dumps from the onerous disks of the NewsClick staff who had been raided.

In keeping with PTI, police sources mentioned the motion was taken primarily based on a case registered below UAPA and different sections of IPC, together with Part 153A (selling enmity between two teams), 120B (legal conspiracy).

In keeping with an NDTV report, the Delhi Police’s Particular Cell had about 25 questions, together with on farmers’ protests in opposition to the Centre’s now-repealed three farm legal guidelines and Shaheeh Bagh protests in Delhi in opposition to the citizenship regulation, for these focused within the raids.

The journalists had been additionally questioned about their journey to northeastern states and their tales from the area, the report added.

A NewsClick journalist advised The Quint that she was questioned about her work on the farmers’ protest, Delhi riots, and the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside along with her “intention” whereas masking these tales. “They also asked me if I got paid extra to cover the issues.”

ALSO READ: What is the China funding row, linked to the NewsClick raids?

How the raids got here to be

In keeping with Delhi Police sources, a gathering of senior officers of the Particular Cell was held at 2 am on the intervening evening of 2-3 October throughout which a listing of all folks whose houses could be raided was ready, reported NDTV. They had been divided into 3 (A, B, C) classes on the idea of the motion that may be taken in opposition to them.

Over 500 police personnel had been a part of the raids at greater than 100 areas spanning Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Mumbai, NDTV reported.

Reactions to the raids

Press organisations have expressed issues over the raids in opposition to NewsClick.

The Editors Guild of India mentioned in a press release, “EGI is deeply concerned about the raids at the residences of senior journalists on the morning of 3 October, and the subsequent detention of many of those journalists. Urges the state to follow due process, and not to make draconian criminal laws as tools for press intimidation.”

Utilizing the hashtag #DefendMediaFreedom, The Press Membership of India mentioned in its remarks, “The Press Club Of India is deeply concerned about the multiple raids conducted on the houses of journalists and writers associated with NewsClick. We are monitoring the developments and will be releasing a detailed statement”.

The INDIA bloc has slammed the Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP) authorities over the “fresh attack on the media.”

“In the last nine years, the BJP government has deliberately persecuted and suppressed the media by deploying investigative agencies to suppress the British Broadcasting Corporation, Newslaundry, Dainik Bhaskar, Bharat Samachar, The Kashmir Walla, The Wire etc., and most recently the journalists of NewsClick,” The Quint cited the INDIA grouping’s assertion as saying.

The Opposition bloc alleged that the Central authorities’s “coercive” actions are “invariably directed against only those media organisations and journalists that speak truth to power.”

Congress chief Pawan Khera known as the NewsClick raids a “fresh distraction” from the “explosive” outcomes of the Bihar caste survey.

Hitting out on the Centre, the Aam Aadmi Celebration (AAP) mentioned the Centre is “scared” of journalists.

In the meantime, Union info and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur mentioned that investigation companies had been solely doing their job. “The probe agencies are independent and they are doing their jobs by following rules. I don’t need to justify the raids. If someone has done something wrong, the probe agencies do their job. It’s nowhere written that probe agencies can’t take action if money has come to you from wrong sources or something objectionable has been done,” he reportedly advised reporters in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar.

With inputs from companies