Delhi police's special cell on Saturday filed a chargesheet in a UAPA case against NewsClick and its founder-editor Prabir Purkayastha, who was arrested in October last year.

Both Purkayastha and the news portal have been named as accused in the chargesheet, filed under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Sources said Purkayastha stood accused of receiving illegal funds from China
and running Chinese propaganda.

“The chargesheet also mentions allegations against Purkayastha of showing Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as not parts of India, discrediting the Indian government’s fight against Covid, funding the farmers’ agitation, and putting up a spirited defence of legal cases against some Chinese telecom companies,” a police officer said.

The chargesheet contained over 8,000 pages, including annexures, he added.

A Delhi trial court has posted the matter for further proceedings on April 16.

The court had earlier granted two extensions to the Delhi police to file the chargesheet, first in December and then in February.

On March 20, it again extended the deadline for filing the final report by 10 days after noting the submissions of the public prosecutors.

On October 3 last year, the Delhi police had raided the NewsClick office and several associated journalists. They arrested Purkayastha and the portal’s HR head, Amit Chakraborty, in a terror case, alleging that the portal received Chinese funds and ran an “anti-India agenda”.

Both Purkayastha and Chakraborty have been in judicial custody since November last year. However, the latter has turned approver in the case.

This is the first time a media outlet in the country has been booked under the UAPA.

Several journalists’ organisations, including the Editors Guild of India, and Opposition parties had condemned the Delhi police’s action, calling it an attempt to “muzzle” the press.

Recently, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), a Paris-based NGO focused on safeguarding the right to freedom of information, asked the European Union “to sanction four high-ranking officers of the Delhi police, responsible — directly or indirectly — for exactions against dozens of journalists working or having collaborated with the independent media NewsClick”.

The RSF statement on NewsClick alleged an “undermining of elementary freedoms in India”.