NEW DELHI: The
Delhi Police
chargesheet filed against NewsClick and its founder,
Prabir Purkayastha
, has accused him of actively seeking to “undermine the Indian govt’s efforts to develop a vaccine to combat Covid-19”. It claims “the actions were nothing but an act of terror as they aimed at public health, which is one of the touchstones of national security”.
Purkayastha has been booked under
anti-terror law
UAPA.
“Evidence gathered during the investigation paints a clear picture of a coordinated campaign to undermine India’s response to Covid-19, driven by a biased agenda and potentially influenced by external entities. Their malicious acts not only endangered the lives of individuals who chose not to get vaccinated due to the misinformation peddled by the accused, but it also threatened the overall public health and safety of the population,” it claims.
In a statement, NewsClick said the allegations were completely baseless. “NewsClick and Prabir have not been involved in any terrorist act. Nor is there any evidence for the same. Prabir does not have links to any terrorist group. The timing of these reports makes it clear that they aim to prejudice public opinion and pending judicial proceedings. The chargesheet is nothing but a set of opinions of the investigating officer parading as ‘allegations’. These allegations will be firmly contested,” it said.
The chargesheet has a reference to World War III and philosopher Marshall McLuhan, besides claims of a deeper plot to propagate “information warfare” as part of a transnational conspiracy. “The investigation has brought to life McLuhan’s saying that ‘World War III is a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation’,” the police said while elaborating on Purkayastha’s association with China-based millionaire and CCP functionary Neville Roy Singham.
According to the chargesheet, the probe revealed a conspiracy aimed at a deliberate creation of a false narrative against Citizen Amendment Act. “The end result of this deliberate misinformation campaign was seen from the beginning of Dec, 2019 and ran up to Feb 2020 in the physical manifestation of the deadly Delhi riots,” it alleges.
