The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) not to take coercive action against news portal Newsclick and its editor-in-chief in connection with a money laundering case
The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) not to take coercive action against news portal Newsclick and its editor-in-chief in connection with a money laundering case.
The high court issued notice to the ED on the portal's plea seeking a copy of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) lodged by it in the case. Justice Jasmeet Singh, who started hearing the vacation bench matters at 10:30 am first in division bench and thereafter in single bench, conducted the court till 11:30 pm, in a rare occurrence.
The court said till July 5, no coercive action be taken against Newsclick and its founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha.
It is directed that till the next date of hearing, no coercive action be taken against the petitioners, the judge said and listed the case relating to ED for further hearing on July 5.
Besides, the company also sought quashing of the FIR lodged by Delhi Police on the allegations of foreign funding on the ground that it does not disclose any cognizable offenses as alleged.
The allegations in the FIR are that the petitioner company PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt Ltd received Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the tune of Rs 9.59 crores from one M/s Worldwide Media Holdings LLC USA during the financial year 2018-19.
It was alleged that the investment was made by greatly overvaluing the shares of the petitioner company to avoid the alleged cap of 26 per cent of FDI in a digital news website.
It was further alleged that over 45 per cent of this investment was diverted/siphoned off for the payment of salary/consultancy, rent, and other expenses, which payments are alleged to have been made for ulterior motives.
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