Quashing the FIR against NewsClick editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha, the Delhi High Court held that the investigations conducted by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) amounted to a “fishing and roving exercise in the financial affairs of the petitioners without the existence of any offence.” 

The Court found that neither the EOW nor the ED had been able to establish the existence of a criminal conspiracy. It noted that the allegation of conspiracy rested primarily on the fact that Jason Pfetcher had entered into an agreement with the organisation. Pfetcher is the US-based lawyer who negotiated the agreement between Worldwide Media Holdings LLC (WMH) and NewsClick.

“Merely because the parties entered into an agreement is not sufficient to constitute criminal conspiracy, unless the ED is able to show what is the illegal objective or the means which have been adopted by the Petitioners and the other persons which can be termed as criminal conspiracy,” Justice Neena Bansal Krishna observed.

THe FIR was registered in August 2020 against Prabir following a complaint forwarded by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It alleged that the news organisation had received Rs 9.59 crore in foreign direct investment (FDI) from US-based Worldwide Media Holdings LLC through an allegedly overvalued share transaction designed to circumvent FDI restrictions.

The EOW initially registered an FIR on August 26, 2020, charging Prabir with criminal breach of trust, cheating, and criminal conspiracy. A month later, in September 2020, the ED initiated proceedings against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The court noted that NewsClick had sought clarification from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting regarding the FDI policy........

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