On Friday, the Delhi Police raided Anusha Paul’s home at Kodumon in Pathanamthitta, Kerala. Paul is a former employee of the controversial online news portal NewsClick. The online channel is accused of providing pro-China propaganda in exchange for funds.
Anusha Paul told reporters that the Delhi Police spoke in a threatening tone. Paul said that after giving her statement, the Delhi Police seized the mobile phone, laptop, identity, and bank documents. Paul asserted that NewsClick did not provide the confiscated laptop and mobile phone, but police still took them away.
Paul claimed Delhi police warned her to come to Delhi as soon as possible and appear before the police. She added they mainly investigated her Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) connection. She was asked about her relationship with CPM leaders in Delhi. When asked if she knew Delhi CPM state secretary KM Tiwari, Paul replied that she did.
The lady added that Delhi police questioned her about NewsClick’s funding and reporting assignments during her time with the organization. Paul was a correspondent on the international desk of NewsClick between 2018 and 2022. Marunadan Malayalee reported that she is also the Treasurer of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) Delhi State Committee. DYFI is the quasi-militant youth wing of the ruling CPM.
Paul was born and raised in Delhi. Her parents, too, were employed there, and so was Paul. Incidentally, the family shifted to Pathanamthitta just a week ago. Delhi police have not revealed details of the raid. A special investigation team arrived from Delhi, and the raids occurred after informing Kerala police.
At the same time, the Delhi Police Special Cell said that an active member of the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China was involved in illegally routing foreign funds through several shell companies. Some of these funds were intended to support anti-Bharat activities, including those related to banned Naxal organizations.
This was mentioned in the FIR against Prabir Purkayastha, the founder and editor-in-chief of the NewsClick portal, and others arrested for receiving foreign aid for pro-Chinese propaganda. It is alleged that this journalist conspiracy intended to undermine Bharat’s unity and territorial integrity by depicting Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as disputed territories.
Prabir Purkayastha, Neville Roy Singham, Geeta Hariharan, and Gautam Bhatia allegedly conspired to create a ‘Legal Community Network’ in Bharat to defend cases against Chinese companies in return for benefits. There are allegations that funds were distributed to various individuals, including associates of ‘activist’ Teesta Setalvad.
The FIR states that Newsclick received crores illegally and regularly from April 2018. The money received from abroad was to provide anti-national news. It is clear that the investigation against NewsClick, which is facing allegations including receiving illegal funds from China, is not confined to Delhi.
“I do not have fear; it’s a responsibility to the country and people,” claimed Paul after the raids. Though some leftist journalists cried foul, the response from the CPM government has been passive. The earlier raid on NewsClick was described as a fascist measure by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
