Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Urmilesh, two NewsClick writers, were taken by Delhi Police on Tuesday to the special cell offices in the capital. Two senior police officers are also present on the grounds of the special cell.
This occurs as raids by the Delhi police under the UAPA and other provisions are currently taking place at several locations connected to NewsClick.
According to sources, the police also brought laptops, mobile phones, diaries, and other seized items to a secret cell at the Lodhi Road headquarters.
The raids are being carried out in connection with a case that was filed on August 17th under UAPA and other IPC provisions, including 153A of IPC (promote hatred between two groups), 120 B of IPC (criminal conspiracy), and UAPA.
The writer’s lawyer, Gaurav Yadav, arrived to the Delhi Police Special Cell headquarters and claimed to have no knowledge of the reason why Urmilesh had been brought there.
“Urmilesh’s wife told me that the Delhi Police had detained him. I don’t now have any more information, the lawyer told ANI.
Anurag Thakur, the minister of information and broadcasting, stated in a statement to ANI that investigating authorities are allowed to look into any allegations of wrongdoing.
“I don’t need to justify… If anyone has committed anything wrong, search agencies are free to carry out investigations against them under set guidelines,” Thakur told ANI.
BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam said strict actions will be taken on NewsClick or any other agency that will work on the funds from foreign countries.
“Strict action will be taken on NewsClick or any other agency that will work on the funds from foreign countries to break the country. China does not want to see our country grow and it is trying to use anti-national agencies against the country”.
Congress spokesperson and permanent invitee to the CWC Gurdeep Sappal criticised the government for this action “So the crackdown media and journalists is not just a matter of a instant causation. It is expression of the political philosophy of BJP/RSS, it represents the India they want to create surreptitiously” Sappal said in a post on X.
Crackdown on Journalists by Delhi Police:
Yesterday was Gandhi Jayanti. In 1931, Mahatma Gandhi guided Jawaharlal Nehru in drafting Karachi Resolution on Fundamental Rights in independent India.
The first Fundamental Right promised to citizens of India was:
“Every citizen of…
— Gurdeep Singh Sappal (@gurdeepsappal) October 3, 2023
