In a major development in the NewsClick case, the news portal's human resources department head Amit Chakravarty has moved a Delhi court seeking its permission to turn an approver in the case lodged under anti-terror law UAPA over allegations that it received money to spread pro-China propaganda, court sources said.
Amit Chakravarty moved the application before Special Judge Hardeep Kaur last week, a news agency PTI report mentioned, adding that in the application he sought pardon in the case, claiming he had material information that he was willing to disclose to the Delhi Police which is investigating the matter.
The judge has posted the matter before a magisterial court for recording Chakravarty’s statement. The agency will take a decision on whether to support his application before the court after going through his statement, the report quoted police sources as saying.
NewsClick Case and Chakravarty's Arrest
Amit Chakravarty was arrested on October 3 along with NewsClick founder and Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha by the Special Cell of Delhi Police after raids were conducted on the news portal. They are currently in judicial custody.
Raids were conducted at 88 locations in Delhi and seven in other states on October 3 on the suspects named in the FIR and those that surfaced in the analysis of data, police said. Around 300 electronic gadgets were also seized from the offices of NewsClick and the residences of the journalists who were examined.
Following the raids, 46 individuals, including nine female journalists, were questioned by the Special Cell.
As per the FIR, a large amount of funds to the news portal came from China to "disrupt the sovereignty of India" and cause disaffection against the country. The FIR also alleged that Prabir Purkayastha conspired with a group -- People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) -- to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
(With PTI inputs)
