On Tuesday, Indian police raided the homes of at least eight journalists and activists as part of a probe into suspected money laundering of the media company, NewsClick, heightening concerns over a crackdown in a nation where media freedom has nosedived, local media reported.
Indian police raided as part of a probe into suspected money laundering of the media company, government officials said.
The officials and some of the journalists said that laptops and mobile phones were taken away as part of the probe into the media company NewsClick.
An official in the interior ministry overseeing the raids by the Delhi Police said, “A special investigations team launched a search operation to identify all those individuals who were possibly getting funds from overseas to run a media group with the main agenda of spreading foreign propaganda.”
The raids were part of a probe by the Enforcement Directorate, India’s financial crime agency, into suspected illicit foreign funding by NewsClick, the official said.
The raids were conducted at more than a dozen homes of journalists and some other writers related to NewsClick, another ministry official said.
The second official said, “We have not arrested anyone and the search operations are still underway.”
Both of the officials refused to be identified as they were not allowed to talk to the media. A Delhi Police spokesperson said he was not in a “position to comment, as of now.”
NewsClick officials were not immediately available for comment.
However, it says on its website it is an independent media organization established in 2009 committed to covering news from India and elsewhere with a focus on “progressive movements”.
Officials said the probe started after a New York Times report in August named NewsClick as part of a global network acquiring funds from American billionaire Neville Roy Singham, allegedly to publish Chinese propaganda.
NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha said at the time the allegations were not new and the organization would answer to them in court.
The Press Club of India said it was extremely concerned about the raids.
India has fallen to 150th in the World Press Freedom Index, an annual ranking by non-profit Reporters Without Borders, from 140th the previous year, its lowest ever.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government denies the group’s findings, questioning its method, and says India has a vibrant and free press.
