Who was under Delhi Police’s radar? What have the cops recovered?

The Delhi Police raids today (3 October) at over 30 places linked to the news portal NewsClick and its employees have created a political controversy, with the INDIA bloc slamming the Centre over the move. The police conducted searches at more than 35 locations, including houses of journalists associated with NewsClick.

As per multiple reports, a case was filed by the Delhi Police against the news portal under the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA on 17 August after a New York Times investigation alleged that NewsClick was among organisations that received funds from American millionaire Neville Roy Singham to push “Chinese propaganda”.

The Delhi Police have reportedly sealed the office of NewsClick. 

Who was raided? What have the police recovered? Let’s take a closer look.

Journalists, activists and more

The houses of present and former NewsClick journalists, contributors and employees seem to have been raided so far.

The Delhi Police reportedly conducted searches at the residences of NewsClick Editor Prabir Purkayastha, video journalist Abhisar Sharma, political commentator and senior journalist Aunindyo Chakravarty, journalists Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Bhasha Singh, and Urmilesh.

Purkayastha, the founder and editor-in-chief of NewsClick, is also a founding member of the Delhi Science Forum, a non-profit organisation.

As per BBC, journalist Bhasha Singh has reported “extensively on manual scavenging and farmers’ suicides in northern India”.

Journalist Abhisar Sharma has previously worked for BBC Hindi and NDTV. He took to X earlier in the day and wrote, “Delhi police landed at my home. Taking away my laptop and Phone”.

Known for his political satires, Sanjay Rajoura is a stand-up comedian and a member of the trio Aisi Taisi Democracy.

Historian Sohail Hashmi has been organising talks and heritage walks on Delhi’s history for more than a decade. Speaking to The Quint, Hashmi’s daughter, Sarah, said that six officials “barged into” their Delhi residence at 6 am and carried out a search for over 1.5 hours.

“Initially, they barged into our house without showing us the search warrant. They only said that they want to investigate all those linked to the NewsClick investigation. Upon asking them again, we were handed over the warrant which my father (Sohail Hashmi) read. He was questioned by the officials and was asked what he does, and who he is associated with. They have seized his laptop, phone, hard disk and pen drives,” she was quoted as saying.

Several journalists, including Chakravarty, Urmilesh, Thakurta, Sharma, Purkayastha, and Satyam Tiwari, were taken to Delhi Police’s special cell headquarters for questioning, as per The Wire report.

No arrests have been made so far.

A raid was also carried out at Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury’s residence. As per NDTV, the son of the politician’s staff member who works for NewsClick was questioned and his phone and laptop were seized.

In Mumbai, the police raided the house of activist Teesta Setalvad, who according to The Wire, is the director of think tank Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, which has contributed articles to NewsClick.

Inside Delhi Police’s raids

The Delhi police seized electronic devices like mobile phones and laptops during the raids. They have also taken data dumps from the hard disks of the NewsClick employees who were raided.

According to PTI, police sources said the action was taken based on a case registered under UAPA and other sections of IPC, including Section 153A (promoting enmity between two groups), 120B (criminal conspiracy).

According to an NDTV report, the Delhi Police’s Special Cell had about 25 questions, including on farmers’ protests against the Centre’s now-repealed three farm laws and Shaheeh Bagh protests in Delhi against the citizenship law, for those targeted in the raids.

The journalists were also questioned about their travel to northeastern states and their stories from the region, the report added.

A NewsClick journalist told The Quint that she was questioned about her work on the farmers’ protest, Delhi riots, and the COVID-19 pandemic, along with her “intention” while covering these stories. “They also asked me if I got paid extra to cover the issues.”

ALSO READ: What is the China funding row, linked to the NewsClick raids?

How the raids came to be

According to Delhi Police sources, a meeting of senior officers of the Special Cell was held at 2 am on the intervening night of 2-3 October during which a list of all people whose homes would be raided was prepared, reported NDTV. They were divided into 3 (A, B, C) categories on the basis of the action that would be taken against them.

Over 500 police personnel were part of the raids at more than 100 locations spanning Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Mumbai, NDTV reported.

Reactions to the raids

Press organisations have expressed concerns over the raids against NewsClick.

The Editors Guild of India said in a statement, “EGI is deeply concerned about the raids at the residences of senior journalists on the morning of 3 October, and the subsequent detention of many of those journalists. Urges the state to follow due process, and not to make draconian criminal laws as tools for press intimidation.”

Using the hashtag #DefendMediaFreedom, The Press Club of India said in its remarks, “The Press Club Of India is deeply concerned about the multiple raids conducted on the houses of journalists and writers associated with NewsClick. We are monitoring the developments and will be releasing a detailed statement”.

The INDIA bloc has slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government over the “fresh attack on the media.”

“In the last nine years, the BJP government has deliberately persecuted and suppressed the media by deploying investigative agencies to suppress the British Broadcasting Corporation, Newslaundry, Dainik Bhaskar, Bharat Samachar, The Kashmir Walla, The Wire etc., and most recently the journalists of NewsClick,” The Quint cited the INDIA grouping’s statement as saying.

The Opposition bloc alleged that the Central government’s “coercive” actions are “invariably directed against only those media organisations and journalists that speak truth to power.”

Congress leader Pawan Khera called the NewsClick raids a “fresh distraction” from the “explosive” results of the Bihar caste survey.

Hitting out at the Centre, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said the Centre is “scared” of journalists.

Meanwhile, Union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur said that investigation agencies were only doing their job. “The probe agencies are independent and they are doing their jobs by following rules. I don’t need to justify the raids. If someone has done something wrong, the probe agencies do their job. It’s nowhere written that probe agencies can’t take action if money has come to you from wrong sources or something objectionable has been done,” he reportedly told reporters in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar.

With inputs from agencies

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