A Delhi court has sent NewsClick’s founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakraborty to nine days in police custody in the UAPA case, Bar and Bench reported. They will be produced before the court again on November 2.
The police custody comes following the Delhi police’s demand to confront the two NewsClick executives with “protected witnesses”.
Following their arrest on October 3, Purkayastha and Chakraborty were sent to seven days of police custody and subsequent judicial custody. Their judicial custody expired today.
The media outlet had also challenged the arrests and the police action before the Supreme Court. The top court will next hear the matter on October 30.
Purkayastha and Amit Chakraborty have also been booked by the CBI over allegations of foreign funding violations.
NewsClick has denied all the allegations against it and has termed the police action as an attempt to “stifle fearless voices”. It has repeatedly refused that it took funds or directions from Chinese entities.
Sixteen press groups earlier wrote to the Chief Justice of India, demanding that the “increasingly repressive use” of investigating agencies against the media be stopped.
In the run up to the arrests of Purkayastha and Chakraborty, the Delhi police raided over 30 locations and questioned more than 35 journalists. Their electronic devices were also seized.
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