NewsClick case: Delhi court grants police 60 days more to complete probe

The Special Cell had registered an FIR in August under sections of the UAPA and IPC. Among allegations detailed in its FIR against Purkayastha were attempts to show 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 Chinese telecom companies such as Xiaomi and Vivo.

The duo was arrested following day-long searches at over 50 locations linked to the news portal, its employees and contributors. After the searches, which were carried out across the NCR and Mumbai, police said a total of 46 “suspects” had been questioned and their “digital devices” seized.

In its remand application, which The Indian Express had accessed earlier, the Special Cell stated there were “secret inputs” that “foreign funds in crores have been infused illegally into India by Indian and foreign entities inimical to India in pursuance of conspiracy with the intention to disrupt sovereignty and territorial integrity of India, to cause disaffection against India and to threaten the unity, integrity, security of India”.