CBI Summons Newsclick HR Head Amit Chakraborty for Questioning in Tihar Jail over FCRA Violations

The CBI will question former NewsClick HR head Amit Chakraborty in Tihar Jail regarding alleged FCRA violations by the news portal. Chakraborty is a witness in the case, allegedly involving investments from US-based WMH in PPK NewsClick Studio Pvt. The CBI had registered an FIR against NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and the company based on a complaint of MHA violations. Chakraborty was not named in the FIR. Delhi Police has charged NewsClick and Purkayastha under the UAPA for running alleged Chinese propaganda. The CBI alleges unexplained foreign fund receipts by NewsClick, violating FCRA provisions.

The CBI will question the then NewsClick HR head Amit Chakraborty in Tihar Jail in connection with its probe against the news portal for the alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, officials said Monday.

They said Chakraborty will be questioned as a ''witness'' on Wednesday for two hours in the afternoon about alleged investments from US-based Worldwide Media Holdings (WMH) in the company PPK NewsClick Studio Pvt.

One of the shareholders in the company and coordinator for funds received from WMH, Chakraborty is lodged in Tihar Jail in judicial custody after his arrest by Delhi Police Special Cell on October 3 last year under the provisions of provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, they said.

They said the CBI had received permission from the special court to question him in Tihar on Wednesday. The central probe agency registered a case against NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha, the company PPK NewsClick Studio Pvt, and others on October 07, 2023, for alleged violations of FCRA, based on a complaint from MHA Under Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh.

Chakraborty was not named as an accused in the FIR.

Delhi Police filed its first charge sheet of around 8,000 pages, in the UAPA case against NewsClick and its founder Prabir Purkayastha on March 30 for allegedly running Chinese propaganda.

The CBI, which is probing alleged violations of FCRA in the investments received by the portal, has alleged that NewsClick had received an unexplained export remittance of approximately Rs 28.46 crore through four foreign entities in violation of FCRA provisions.

The agency spokesperson had said there was an ''unexplained receipt'' of foreign funds of approximately Rs 9.59 crore due to incorrect characterization of the fund as FDI.

''It was also alleged that the provisions of FCRA, 2010, prohibiting the acceptance of foreign contribution by the company engaged in the production and broadcast of audio-visual news or current affairs programme through any electronic mode and by any correspondent or columnist or writer or owner of such company, were violated,'' the spokesperson had said.

In its case against the news portal, the Delhi Police had alleged that funds were fraudulently infused by an active member of the propaganda department of the Communist Party of China, Neville Roy Singham.

NewsClick, which hit the headlines after the New York Times reported that it received funds from Singham for allegedly running pro-Chinese propaganda, has denied all the allegations.