The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to NewsClick and its founder-editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha on the Enforcement Directorate’s appeal challenging the Delhi High Court judgment quashing the money-laundering case against the news portal and its founder. The matter was heard by Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymlaya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana.

The Delhi High Court had quashed the ED’s Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) as well as the Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing FIR concerning alleged irregularities in foreign investment received by the news portal.

The case originated from a 2020 FIR registered by the Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which alleged that PPK NewsClick Studio Pvt. Ltd., the company operating the news portal, received foreign direct investment of approximately ₹9.59 crore from US-based Worldwide Media Holdings LLC during 2018-19.

The investigating agency alleged that the company artificially inflated the valuation of its shares to circumvent restrictions on foreign investment in digital news media and diverted over 45% of the investment towards salaries, consultancy fees, rent and other expenses. The ED subsequently registered an ECIR under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

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In its May 29 judgment, the Delhi High Court held that the allegations did not establish the essential ingredients of cheating, criminal breach of trust or criminal conspiracy. It also held that once the predicate FIR was quashed, the connected money-laundering proceedings could not survive.

The ED has challenged the High Court’s findings before the Supreme Court. It has reportedly contended that the High Court failed to adequately consider the material gathered during the investigation and also questioned the delay in pronouncing the judgment.

Keywords: Newsclick, Prabir Purkayastha