NEW DELHI: Journalists Urmilesh and Abhisar Sharma, who are associated with web portal NewsClick, were on Thursday again summoned by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police in connection with a case filed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and questioned for several hours.
The Delhi Police had on August 17 registered an FIR under sections of UAPA and the Indian Penal Code against NewsClick journalists for allegedly receiving money to spread pro-China propaganda and being involved in activities that were against the sovereignty of the country.
On October 3, the Special Cell arrested Prabir Purkayastha, the founder of the website, and Amit Chakravarty, its HR head in the said case. Several other journalists were also questioned, however, they were let off in the evening.
According to the officials, Urmilesh and Abhisar Sharma were again summoned to the Special Cell office at Lodhi Colony and were questioned by the sleuths for several hours. Abhisar Sharma, after the October 3 questioning, had said that he was not scared of the police action and would keep asking tough questions to the government.
As per the remand application submitted by the police before a court, the arrested NewsClick founder and editor Prabir Purkayastha attempted to peddle a narrative, both globally and domestically, that Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are disputed territories.
“Secret inputs also revealed that Prabir Purkayastha, Neville Roy Singham and some other Chinese employees of Neville Roy Singham-owned Shanghai-based company by the name of StarStream have exchanged emails which expose their intent to show Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as not being part of India,” the police said in its remand application submitted before a court.
The police said that the attempts of alleged people to tinker with the northern borders of India and to show Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as not being part of India in maps amount to an “act intended towards undermining the unity and territorial integrity of India”.
‘Not scared of police action’
After the October 3 questioning, Abhisar Sharma, had said that he was not scared of police action and would keep asking tough questions to the government. According to the officials, Urmilesh and Abhisar Sharma were again summoned to the Delhi Police Special Cell office at Lodhi Colony and were questioned by the sleuths for several hours
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