The Delhi High Court has quashed an FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing in 2020 and related Enforcement Directorate proceedings against news portal NewsClick and its founder Prabir Purkayastha.
Justice Neena Bansal Krishna ruled on Wednesday that the offences of cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy were not made out. The court stated that continuation of the FIR lodged on August 26, 2020, amounted to a gross abuse of the process of law. The FIR had alleged violations of FDI norms in investments received by PPK NewsClick Studio Private Limited from Worldwide Media Holdings LLC during 2018-19. The Enforcement Directorate initiated action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on September 2, 2020, based on the FIR. Purkayastha said after the verdict, “The judgement has indicated what we have always held.” The court noted that no aggrieved person existed for the cheating charge and that the Reserve Bank of India had found no wrongdoing.
