Delhi High Court reserves order on bail plea of Newsclick’s HR chief Amit Chakravarty

NewsClick HR chief seeks bail in pro-China propaganda case; Delhi High Court reserves order after police support.

NewsClick’s Human Resources Department chief Amit Chakravarty on Wednesday urged the Delhi High Court to grant him bail in a case lodged against the news portal over allegations that it received money to spread “pro-China propaganda.”

The High Court reserved its order on the bail plea by Mr. Chakravarty, who turned an approver in the case last month, after the police said it has no objections if the relief is granted to him.

Mr. Chakravarty’s counsel said that he has been granted pardon in the case by the trial court and was also cooperating in the probe. “I have been in custody since October 3, 2023, and still the matter is at the stage of investigation. No charge sheet is filed,” the counsel said.

A trial court had last month allowed Mr. Chakravarty to turn an approver and pardoned him. Mr. Chakravarty has claimed that he was in possession of ‘material information’ about the case which he was willing to disclose to the Delhi Police.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police had arrested NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and Mr. Chakravarty on October 3, 2023 and both of them are currently in judicial custody. The FIR revealed that a large amount of funds to the news portal came from China to ‘disrupt the sovereignty of India’ and cause disaffection against the country.