Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti Tuesday described the raids by the Delhi Police's Special Cell at the residences of NewsClick journalists as a "fishing" expedition.

Mufti, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said the raids were extremely perturbing as she accused the central government of championing press abroad and attacking it at home.

"GOI claims India is the mother of democracy & about press freedom abroad yet in the same breath uses state agencies to the crackdown on the remaining handful of independent media outlets.

"Even telephone devices have been forcibly snatched only for a fishing expedition. The repeated illegal pattern of arrest first & creating fake charges later is extremely perturbing (sic)," Mufti wrote in a post on X.

Delhi Police's Special Cell Tuesday morning conducted raids at the premises of online portal NewsClick and its journalists, triggering outrage against the action among scribes.

The Special Cell has registered a new case and started an investigation, officials said. Abhisar Sharma, a senior journalist, wrote on X, "Delhi police landed at my home. Taking away my laptop and phone." Another journalist, Bhasha Singh, wrote on X, "Finally last tweet from this phone. Delhi police seizure (sic) my phone."

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