The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) not to take any coercive action against Newsclick founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha in connection with a money laundering case subject to his joining the investigation.
Justice Mukta Gupta extended the interim protection granted to Mr. Purkayastha till the next date of hearing on September 2.
The High Court also recorded that the ED was yet to supply a copy of its Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) to the parties concerned. On June 21, the court had directed the ED not to take coercive action against the news portal as well as its editor-in-chief in connection with the case.
It had also issued notice to the ED on the news portal’s plea seeking a copy of the ECIR lodged by it in the case.
The money laundering case arises out of a Delhi Police FIR alleging that PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt Ltd received Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of ₹9.59 crore from Worldwide Media Holdings LLC USA during the financial year 2018-19.
The FIR claimed that the investment was made by greatly overvaluing the shares of the petitioner company to allegedly avoid the cap of 26% of FDI in a digital news website. It further alleged that some of the investment was siphoned off for various other motives.
