Delhi Police raid at Sitaram Yechury's official residence in New Delhi
The official residence of CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury was raided by the Delhi Police Special Cell as part of the ongoing action on Tuesday morning on entities linked to NewsClick, which was named by the New York Times as having allegedly received Chinese funding.
FollowThe official residence of CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury was raided by the Delhi Police Special Cell as part of the ongoing action on Tuesday morning on entities linked to NewsClick, which was named by the New York Times as having allegedly received Chinese funding. According to sources, the raid came after one of the persons linked to the case was reported to be residing in the premises. Yechury denied that the raid was not targeting the CPI-M, but rather the son of a party office employee who works at NewsClick as a graphics artist.
NewsClick employee Sumith's mobile phone, two hard disks and a laptop were taken into custody.
On Tuesday morning, Delhi Police's Special Cell conducted raids on the premises of the online portal NewsClick and its journalists, sparking outrage within the journalistic community. The Special Cell initiated a new case and launched an investigation, as reported by officials to PTI. Previously, the Enforcement Directorate had conducted raids at the company's facilities to probe its sources of funding. Acting on information provided by the central agency, the Special Cell is now conducting a raid on the media organization. Authorities familiar with the situation have confirmed that the police confiscated data from laptops and mobile phones belonging to certain journalists associated with NewsClick. Journalist Abhisar Sharma shared on X, "Delhi police arrived at my home and took away my laptop and phone." Another journalist, Bhasha Singh, similarly expressed on X, "This is my final tweet from this phone. Delhi police have seized my phone."
In August, the Delhi High Court requested NewsClick Founder and Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha's response to a plea from city police seeking the vacation of an earlier order that granted him interim protection from arrest in a case involving unlawful foreign funding. The website made headlines recently for alleged receipt of funds from US millionaire Neville Roy Singham for pro-China propaganda in India. Citing an investigation by The New York Times, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur also recently asserted that NewsClick's financial trail indicated an "anti-India agenda."
