Key Points

ON MAY 29, 2026, THE DELHI HIGH COURT dismissed the money laundering case against independent news outlet NewsClick that had been ongoing for six years. The platform and its founder, senior journalist Prabir Purakayastha, had several allegations leveled against them — ranging from financial deceptions to receiving foreign funding to being a Chinese-operated news portal. Even after a year and a half worth of investigation and searches undertaken by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), no substantial or incriminatory evidence could be produced, which led to NewsClick finally getting free of all the allegations it was alleged to have committed.

As much as the Delhi police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) — who filed an FIR in 2020 alleging the money laundering —  and the ED were to blame for NewsClick’s persecution all these years, there’s one more player who had had hand in all these years of allegations NewsClick and its founder were subjugated to — The New York Times (NYT), after the newspaper published a report that alleged NewsClick was part of a global network that worked to promote Chinese propaganda distinguished as independent content.

The New York Times Investigation That Mentioned NewsClick 

In August 2023, the New York Times published a damning investigative report titled “A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to a U.S. Tech Mogul,” which probed into how an American millionaire funded pro-Chinese propaganda operations. The China-based millionaire, Neville Roy Singham, would channel funds into shell companies and non-profit organizations to operate advocacy and media organisations across the world to defend the internal authoritarianism of the Chinese state. India was also a part of this operation, as the NYT alleged that “Mr. Singham’s network financed a news site in New Delhi called NewsClick.”

See also: ED Raids 12 Locations in ₹145 Crore Kotak Bank-Panchkula Municipal Corporation Money Laundering Case

The FIR that the EOW filed against NewsClick alleged that the Rs 9.59 crore funding the news outlet received in 2018 from Worldwide Media Holdings LLC, an US-based firm, was in violation of foreign direct investment rules and regulations.

The NYT report further said that NewClick would “sprinkle its coverage with Chinese government talking points.” They also cited a video of the news portal which said “China’s history continues to inspire the working classes.” 

This was the one and only reference NYT made to NewsClick in its entire lengthy report. The newspaper did not outright accuse the portal of serious crimes such as terrorism or sedition or anything else of that sort.

But the damage has been done.

ED Raids, UAPA Charges, and Arrests 

In October 2023, the ED swooped onto individuals connected to NewsClick — which included journalists, staff writers, and contributors including academics, historians, satirists — for an extensive search. Around 46 people came under the ED’s radar as their phones and laptops were seized and they were questioned intensively, mostly about their coverage of protests by farmers and by Muslim women.

See also: Trump Sues The New York Times in $15 Billion Defamation Case — Fourth Such Lawsuit Filed by Trump

NewsClick’s founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purakayastha and the head of the human resources (HR) department Amit Chakraborty were arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the draconian anti-terror law.

Anonymous government sources say that the NYT’s investigative report played a role in tipping them off about NewsClick’s alleged foreign funding and pro-Chinese reporting. Even mainstream media channels at that time quoted the NYT report, questioning if “press freedom” should be respected at the cost of “national sovereignty.”

Even though the NYT made a minuscule mention to NewsClick in its entire report, it gave enough ammunition to central agencies like ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to persecute the news portal on baseless claims of terrorism and compromising national sovereignty. NewsClick had extensively investigated the 2022 farmers protests in India, muslim women protest against the Citizen Amendment Act, and most notably, an investigation into the financial scandals involving Gautam Adani, the billionaire tycoon who is known to be a close associate of prime minister Modi. 

The money laundering case against NewsClick and the ED’s subsequent investigation — which the Delhi High Court itself termed as “abuse of power” — caused irreparable damage to the news outlet. Its office was shut down and journalists were out of their jobs. Even though the NYT couldn't have foreseen what its investigation would do to press freedom and journalism independence in India, its report did have quite a damning hand in perpetuating the proceedings against NewsClick.

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