The Delhi High Court on Monday extended the interim protection granted to news portal NewsClick and its editor, Prabir Purkayastha, from coercive action in connection with a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Justice Mukta Gupta also sought a response from the ED on Mr. Purkayastha, also the founder of NewsClick, seeking anticipatory bail in the money laundering case. The court noted that a copy of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), registered by the ED in the case, had not been provided to the petitioners yet.
The High Court will hear the case again on July 29.
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The agency, represented by advocate Amit Mahajan, submitted that Mr .Purkayastha had appeared before the agency for investigation once and had sought 10 days’ time to bring certain documents. However, he did not appear again, Mr. Mahajan said.
When the court asked why the ED had not yet supplied the ECIR copy to the petitioners, the counsel said the agency was waiting for him to appear before it and then it would provide the ECIR copy. The counsel also said the agency would issue fresh summons to Mr. Purkayastha to join the investigation.
To this, the judge orally said, “So, when you issue summons, also give the copy of ECIR to him”.
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NewsClick has sought the quashing of the First Information Report (FIR) lodged by the Delhi Police on allegations of foreign funding on the ground that it did not disclose any cognisable offences as alleged.