New Delhi, Oct 3: A team from the Delhi Police’s Special Cell paid a visit to the residence of CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday as part of their investigation into the NewsClick case. They questioned the son of his staffer, Sri Narayan, who is employed by NewsClick, the media outlet accused of receiving funds from China.
Sources reveal that Special Cell officers seized Sunmit Kumar’s mobile phone, laptop, and hard drive during their visit.
Yechury clarified that the searches were not directed at him or the CPI(M) but were related to the son of one of his staff members.
On Tuesday morning, the Delhi Police’s Special Cell conducted searches at over 30 locations in the national capital, including NewsClick’s premises and the residences of its journalists, in response to the accusations.
As of now, no arrests have been made in connection with the case.
During the raid, Special Cell officers collected electronic evidence, laptops, mobile phones, pen drives, and extracted data from hard disks at the NewsClick office and from journalists associated with the organization, including Bhasha Singh, Abhisar Sharma, and Sanjay Rajoura, among others.
The residences of NewsClick writers Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Urmilesh were also subjected to searches.
In response to the searches, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor criticized the government, stating, “Shocked to learn of the raids on 30 journalists in Delhi and arrests of several of them. These are not the actions of a ‘mother of democracy’ but of an insecure and autocratic state.”
“Why does a government as strong and authoritarian as this one feel threatened by a news website? And that too, one that is not even ranked very high in reach or readership? Intolerance is unworthy of everything that India represents. The government has disgraced itself and our democracy today,” Tharoor added in a post on X.
