Foreign funds charges false, attempt to shut us down: Alt News
New Delhi (PTI): Fact-checking website Alt News on Monday rejected allegations of the Delhi Police that it had received funds from foreign sources in violation of the law.
The website also claimed that the multiple allegations against it were an attempt to shut it down.
The allegations claim that we have received funds from foreign sources from whom we cannot receive donations. These allegations are categorically false, Alt News said in a statement posted on its Twitter handle.
The Delhi Police had said that Pravda Media, under which Alt News operates, received over Rs two lakh through various transactions where either the mobile phone number or the IP address was of foreign countries.
Our payment platform through which we receive donations does not allow receipt of funds from foreign sources, and we have received donations from Indian bank accounts only, the Alt News statement said.
The statement said all donations collected through these means go to the organisation's bank account.
The Patiala House court in Delhi on Saturday sent the Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair, arrested last Monday, to judicial custody for 14 days.
Alt News also dismissed allegations that Zubair received donations in his personal account.
The allegation that individuals associated with the organisation have received funds in their personal accounts is also false as individuals associated with the organisation only get monthly remuneration, it said.
Alt News claimed that the allegations against it were an attempt to shut it down.
All of this is an attempt to shut down the very critical work that we do, and we will fight this attempt to shut us down and come out on top, the statement said.
Our statement regarding the recent allegations: pic.twitter.com/XwfpE7egcJ
— Alt News (@AltNews) July 4, 2022
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Lok Sabha MP Engineer Rashid walks out of Tihar jail on interim bail
New Delhi, Sep 11: Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid walked out of Tihar Jail on Wednesday, a day after a court here granted him interim bail till October 2 in a terror funding case so that he can campaign in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls.
Talking to reporters outside the jail, he said that he would continue to fight for his people. Rashid's sons and supporters welcomed him after he walked out of the prison.
Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, has been in jail since 2019 following his arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror funding case.
"He was released from jail at 4.15 pm," said a senior prison official.
He defeated former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Baramulla. Rashid's outfit Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) is contesting the assembly elections.
"I was in jail for five-and-a-half years. I am committed to fighting for my people. I am coming back to unite people and not divide them," he told reporters outside Tihar.
"I want to bring everlasting peace to Kashmir and prove that Kashmiris are not stone pelters. But we will not compromise with our political rights," he said, adding, "I will fight the prime minister's narrative of Naya Kashmir."
National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said Rashid has been granted bail to fetch votes from the people of Kashmir and not to serve them.
About People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti describing Rashid's Awami Ittehad Party as a proxy for the BJP, Abdullah said while he was being very cautious on the issue, "it is good that she has stated openly what many people were thinking".
Lashing out at Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, Rashid on Wednesday alleged that they have "destroyed" Kashmir.
Polling for Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in three phases -- September 18, September 25 and October 1. The results will be declared on October 8.
Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh ordered Rashid's release on interim bail on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and a surety of the like amount. He also imposed certain conditions on him, including that he would not speak to the media about the case.
