Delhi Police gets permission to question rights activist Gautam Navlakha in Newsclick case

Purkayastha and Chakravarty were arrested and more than 50 journalists and staffers associated with Newsclick were raided and questioned.

The police want to question Navlakha, a shareholder of PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt Ltd, about the “illegal funds” they accuse him to have received in the past five years from different organisations.

“The organisation received illegal funding from US millionaire Neville Roy Singham through his companies. Singham is a member of the Communist Party of China and spread anti-India propaganda with the help of Newsclick,” said an officer.

The FIR in the case states that “it is learnt that Navlakha, a shareholder in PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt Ltd since its inception in 2018, remained involved in anti-Indian and unlawful activities such as actively supporting banned Naxal organisations and having anti-national nexus with Gulam Nabi Fai, an agent of ISI of Pakistan”.

“It has also been learnt that such illegally routed foreign funds have been siphoned by Purkayastha and his associates… (and) distributed to Navlakha, associates of Teesta Setalvad…,” reads the FIR.

Navlakha, an activist and journalist, was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad case and is accused of having links to the banned CPI (Maoist). He has been put under house arrest on the directions of the Supreme Court.