NewsClick case: Delhi Police team goes to Mumbai to question activist Gautam Navlakha

 Navlakha, who was on house arrest, was granted bail on December 19 in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case

PTI, TT, New Delhi, 30.12.23 : A team of Delhi Police has gone to Mumbai to question activist Gautam Navlakha in connection with probe into NewsClick's alleged foreign fundings and anti-India activities, an official said on Saturday.

Navlakha will be questioned at his house in Navi Mumbai's Agroli, an official said, adding that the team is led by an assistant commissioner of police (ACP)-level officer.

Navlakha, who was on house arrest, was granted bail on December 19 in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.

In August, the special cell registered an FIR under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against news portal NewsClick, alleging that a large amount of funds came from China to "disrupt the sovereignty of India" and cause "disaffection against the country".

The investigating agency arrested news portal's founder and Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha and human resources department head Amit Chakravarty on October 3. They are currently in judicial custody.

The FIR claimed that the Chinese foreign funds were allegedly distributed to activist Gautam Navlakha and associates of activists Teesta Seetalvad, her husband and Javed Anand, and journalists Urmilesh, Aratrika Halder, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Abhisar Sharma, and others.

Navlakha has been associated with Purkhayastha since 1991 and is also a shareholder of PPK NewsClick Studio Private Limited since 2018, according to the FIR.

It also alleged Purkayastha conspired with a group -- People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) -- to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.