NewsClick HR head Amit Chakraborty withdraws plea in Supreme Court after turning approver

Newsclick HR head Amit Chakraborty on Monday withdrew his plea before the Supreme Court against his arrest and police remand in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case against him [Prabir Purkayastha vs State of NCT of Delhi]..A bench of Justices BR Gavai, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta adjourned the matter till January 30 and allowed Chakraborty, who has since turned approver in the case, to withdraw his plea..Prabir Purkayastha (NewsClick's founding editor) and Chakraborty had moved the top court challenging the Delhi High Court’s order upholding the trial court decision to remand them to police custody.They were arrested following a series of raids conducted in the wake of allegations made in a New York Times article that NewsClick was being paid to boost Chinese propaganda.The arrests were made on October 3, 2023, after several hours of questioning.The Supreme Court had on October 19 sought the response of the Delhi Police to the petitions filed by the NewsClick founder and the news website's human resources head (Chakraborty) against their police remand in the UAPA case.Purkayastha subsequently filed an application for interim medical bail before the apex court..As per the first information report (FIR), the accused illegally received crores of rupees in foreign funds and deployed the same with an intention to disrupt the sovereignty, unity and security of India.The FIR said that secret inputs suggested that substantial foreign funds were illegally funneled into India by both Indian and foreign entities. These funds, amounting to crores of rupees, were received by NewsClick through illegal means over a span of five years.The funds were fraudulently infused by Neville Roy Singham, allegedly an active member of the Communist Party of China's propaganda department, through a complex network of entities, it was further alleged.The accused eventually moved the Delhi High Court challenging their arrest, remand and the FIR lodged against them under UAPA.The petitioners argued that their arrest and remand were illegal since they were not supplied with the grounds of arrest, in violation of the recent Supreme Court judgment in Pankaj Bansal v. Union of India & Ors (M3M case).However, the High Court rejected their argument about the non-furnishing of the grounds of arrest.It held that the Supreme Court’s recent judgment was not squarely applicable to arrests made under the UAPA.This led to the instant appeals before the apex court..Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Prabir Purkayashta.The Delhi Police was represented by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju.