In its petition to the Supreme Court regarding the NewsClick case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned the ownership structure of the news portal and its agreements with foreign entities. The agency stated that the Peoples Dispatch website was originally owned and controlled by NewsClick, and that the American fund Justice and Education Fund paid NewsClick for placing materials on it.
The ED filed a new plea with the Supreme Court concerning NewsClick's activities and its receipt of 'illegal foreign funding.' The document details NewsClick's operational methods, including receiving nearly 86 crore rupees from foreign sources through schemes designed to disguise foreign contributions as legitimate business transactions.
According to the ED, the issue was not merely about NewsClick receiving foreign money. The core of the matter was that charitable donations from abroad were intentionally presented as investments and commercial payments to circumvent Indian regulations governing foreign funding for news organizations. As evidence, the agency used seized emails, corporate documents, financial transactions, valuation reports, contracts, and testimonies gathered during the investigation.
Sources within the agency reported that NewsClick received payment from the US-based Justice and Education Fund (JEF) for articles, video materials, and other content published on Peoples Dispatch. One senior official noted: 'The service agreement served as a tool for regular foreign funding, not an authentic commercial deal.'
According to the agency's information, an email dated August 21, 2017, sent by Amit Chakraborty, the former HR head of the portal, directly discussed changing NewsClick's company documents to attract foreign capital without permission from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The email stated: 'The goal of this is to receive foreign investment without the ministry of information's permission.'
Sources also mentioned that the ED relied on a statement by Prashant Radhakrishnan, a representative of the portal, according to which JEF only owned peoplesdispatch.org from April 2021, and before that, the portal belonged to NewsClick. This supported NewsClick's assertion that payments from JEF were not standard arm's-length purchases.
Furthermore, it is reported that NewsClick is being investigated for ties with Tricontinental and other international funding sources. An email from January 2018 is mentioned, discussing how Tricontinental could begin operations in India through a private limited company receiving investments from the US, instead of immediately seeking approval for foreign grants as a non-profit organization.
An official spokesperson added that this situation gained greater resonance following recent Fox News reports concerning tech entrepreneur Neville Roy Singham, Tricontinental, and their alleged links to international protest movements, including demonstrations in Paris.