News portal founder arrested after raids

The Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested the founder and the head of the human resources department of online portal NewsClick after sweeping raids across five cities over allegations of irregularities in the website's cashbooks and foreign funding.

- Hemani Bhandari and Sanjeev K Jha

A Delhi Police spokesperson said NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakravarty were arrested in connection with a case registered by the special cell this August under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

This came after at least 400 police officials raided around 30 locations across Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Mumbai and Ghaziabad on Tuesday, questioning 46 people, including journalists, freelancers, writers and satirists, for eight hours. "A total of 37 male suspects have been questioned police station, nine female suspects have been questioned at their respective places of stay and digital devices, documents etc. have been seized for examination," said the spokesperson.

The raids and arrest sparked a controversy with Opposition parties accusing the BJP of trying to muzzle the press, and the government defending itself. Several media bodies also condemned the raids, saying it will have a chilling effect on press freedom.

On August 17, Delhi Police's special cell registered a case under section 153A (promoting enmity) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 16 (terrorist act),17 (raising funds for terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy), and 22C (offences companies, societies or trusts) of UAPA.