Funds came from China to disrupt India's sovereignty: Delhi Police FIR against NewsClick
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Police, in an FIR filed under anti-terror law UAPA against online news portal NewsClick, has alleged that a large amount of funds came from China to "disrupt the sovereignty of India" and cause disaffection against the country.
It also alleged that NewsClick founder and editor-in-chief 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.
These foreign funds were fraudulently infused by an active member of the propaganda department of the Communist Party of China, Neville Roy Singham, it claimed.
Delhi Police provided a copy of the FIR to NewsClick on Friday, a day after a city court directed it to do so.
"Chinese telecom giants like Xiaomi, Vivo, etc., incorporated thousands of shell companies in India in violation of the PMLA, FEMA for illegally infusing foreign funds in India in furtherance of this conspiracy," said the FIR, a copy of which is with PTI.
"In furtherance of this conspiracy to disrupt the sovereignty of India and cause disaffection against India, a large amount of funds was routed from China in a circuitous and camouflaged manner and paid news were intentionally peddled, criticising domestic policies, development projects of India and promoting, projecting and defending policies and programmes of the Chinese government," it said.
Navlakha has been associated with Purkhayasta since 1991 and is also a shareholder of PPK NewsClick Studio Private Limited since 2018, according to the FIR.
"Navlakha remained involved in the anti-national nexus with Ghulam Nabu Fai, who is an agent of ISI of Pakistan. Prabir, Neville and other employees of Neville's Shanghai-based company StarStream have exchanged mails which expose their intent to show that Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as not part of India," the FIR read.
"A false narrative was propagated to discredit the efforts of Indian government to contain the COVID-19 pandemic," Delhi Police said.
Purkayastha and Amit Chakravarty, the human resources department head at NewsClick, have been arrested by Delhi Police under sections 13, 16, 17, 18 and 22C of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and 153A and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Tuesday.
According to police, a total of 46 people -- 37 men and nine women -- were questioned by the Delhi Police Special Cell. Journalists Urmilesh and Abhisar Sharma were questioned for a second time in the NewsClick foreign funding case.
On Tuesday, raids were conducted at 88 locations in Delhi and seven in other states on those named in the FIR.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
