NewsClick, an online news portal, appeared before the Delhi High Court on Tuesday to seek the quashing of an FIR filed by the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing for alleged violation of foreign funding laws. NewsClick argued that the entire case was malafide.
The FIR was registered on August 26, 2020, and it alleges that M/s. PPK NewsClick Studio Pvt. Ltd, the petitioner, had received foreign direct investment of Rs 9.59 crore from M/s.Worldwide Media Holdings LLC, USA, during the financial year 2018-19. The FIR also claims that the company greatly overvalued its shares to avoid the alleged cap of 26% FDI in a digital news website.
The senior advocate representing the company argued that there was no loss to the government exchequer and that the transaction was a commercial one. The company’s plea to quash the FIR is part of a batch of pleas pertaining to probes by EOW and the Enforcement Directorate against the company.
The lawyer also mentioned that digital news media does not fall under the print media category, and thus there is no FDI cap on digital news media. The Reserve Bank of India also confirmed that the company had not violated any laws. Additionally, the FIR alleges that over 45% of investment was diverted for various expenses, but the lawyer argued that there had been no violation of any FDI norms.
Referring to a separate Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case where the portal’s editor-in-chief and HR head were arrested, the lawyer claimed it was a dishonest and malafide complaint filed to harass the media channel. The EOW’s counsel said that the UAPA case was different and that there was interim protection from any coercive action granted to the editor-in-chief.
On October 13, the HC dismissed the pleas challenging the arrest and remand order in the UAPA case.