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New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate investigation into NewsClick has alleged that approximately Rs 85.59 crore reached the digital news portal through two principal routes: Rs 9.59 crore presented as foreign direct investment and approximately Rs 76 crore described as payments for media services.
The agency has alleged that the arrangements were structured to circumvent regulations governing foreign funding of news organisations.
Foreign investment in India’s news media sector is subject to regulatory restrictions. In September 2019, the government introduced a 26% cap under the government approval route for foreign direct investment in entities uploading or streaming news and current affairs through digital media. The ED’s allegations concern the nature and structuring of the funding arrangements, including whether foreign contributions were presented as investment or payments for services to circumvent applicable requirements. The timing of the transactions and the regulatory framework in force at the time are central to assessing the allegations.
NewsClick’s editorial positioning had also drawn scrutiny from its critics even before the funding case came to the fore. They pointed to its extensive coverage of the Chinese Revolution, its reporting and commentary on the India-China border confrontation and China’s Belt and Road Initiative, as well as its coverage of Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh and the farmers’ protests, to argue that the portal’s editorial choices reflected an agenda aligned with a particular country’s strategic interests. These were allegations made by its critics about the portal’s editorial orientation, rather than established findings that its coverage was directed by a foreign government.
Information accessed by this newspaper detailing the investigation identifies financial transactions, corporate agreements, valuation reports and email exchanges involving NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha, Amit Chakraborty, who was associated with the portal’s human resources and administration, and overseas individuals and organisations allegedly connected to the funding arrangements.
Some of the information accessed by this newspaper is likely to form part of the Enforcement Directorate’s submissions before the Supreme Court in its challenge to the Delhi High Court’s 29 May 2026 judgment. The material details the agency’s allegations concerning the source and routing of funds, corporate restructuring, share valuations and email correspondence involving individuals connected to the arrangements.
The allegations have assumed significance after the ED approached the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court’s 29 May 2026 judgment quashing the underlying Economic Offences Wing FIR and the connected money-laundering proceedings. The High Court held that the allegations in the FIR did not establish the essential ingredients of the offences invoked. The ED is challenging that decision.
At the centre of the investigation is Rs 9.59 crore allegedly routed through Worldwide Media Holdings LLC, a US-based investment vehicle incorporated in Delaware. The company was described by its manager, Jason Pfetcher, a US-based lawyer and former ThoughtWorks employee, as wholly owned by the People’s Support Foundation, a US private foundation established in 2017.
Pfetcher has said the foundation was capitalised with proceeds from the sale of ThoughtWorks, the technology consultancy founded by Neville Roy Singham, an American businessman who has said he resides in Shanghai, China.
Jodie Evans, Singham’s wife and a co-founder of the US anti-war organisation CODEPINK, has been identified in public reporting as a director of the People’s Support Foundation. Pfetcher has also described himself as a board member of the foundation.
The ED alleges that the investment vehicle was used to channel funds to NewsClick under an arrangement that did not resemble a conventional commercial investment.
The agency has questioned the absence of dividend provisions and a timetable for repatriation of the investment, as well as the reported absence of the foreign investor from NewsClick’s shareholder meetings. It has cited these circumstances to support its allegation that the transaction resembled a charitable contribution rather than an ordinary commercial investment.
An email dated 21 August 2017 from Chakraborty to Pranav Bhaskar, concerning proposed changes to NewsClick’s corporate agreement, is among the material cited in the investigation. The correspondence sought changes to Clause 9 of the limited liability partnership agreement so that NewsClick could be described as a digital company and receive foreign investment without permission from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The email stated: “The purpose of the same is that we want foreign investment without the permission of Ministry of Information.”
The investigation also records Chakraborty’s statement that the limited liability partnership was converted into a private company to bring in foreign direct investment. The ED has relied on the correspondence and the subsequent corporate restructuring to support its allegation that the arrangements were designed to facilitate foreign funding without the required approval.
The agency has questioned how NewsClick’s shares were valued.
According to the investigation material, four valuation drafts revised revenue projections, including an amount linked to GSPAN LLC, and increased the projected number of syndication channels from 12 to 20. These changes raised the company’s valuation to approximately Rs 91 crore. Shares were issued at Rs 11,510 each against a valuation figure of Rs 9,188. The ED has questioned the basis for the difference and the absence of documented negotiations explaining the higher issue price.
The second major funding route involved approximately Rs 76 crore allegedly received from the Justice and Education Fund, a US-based non-profit organisation, for content produced for Peoples Dispatch, a news platform.
The ED has disputed the commercial substance of payments described as consideration for articles, videos, scripts and other media services, alleging that the service agreements were used to facilitate regular foreign funding.
The investigation material refers to agreements specifying rates for individual articles, videos and scripts, which were subsequently revised. The ED has questioned whether the payments reflected genuine commercial transactions or an arrangement for regular financial support presented as the export of media services.
The agency has also examined the ownership and control of Peoples Dispatch.
According to a statement attributed to an individual Prashanth Radhakrishnan in the investigation material, the Justice and Education Fund took ownership of the website in April 2021, while NewsClick owned it previously. The material states that NewsClick’s team determined content quality and the terms of the arrangements. The ED has cited these circumstances to question whether the payments were ordinary purchases of content between independent parties.
An email dated 22 January 2019 from Chakraborty to Ivan Orosa stated that the Peoples Dispatch funding proposal had been discussed and approved by Purkayastha and Singham and that a draft agreement had been shared with Pfetcher for review. The ED has relied on this correspondence to connect the individuals to the funding arrangements.
The overseas entities identified in the investigation extend beyond Worldwide Media Holdings LLC and the Justice and Education Fund.
They include Tricontinental and GSPAN LLC in the United States, as well as Centro Popular de Midas in Brazil. The geographical and corporate links indicate that the overseas funding trail was not confined to a single entity or country.
The investigation material also refers to an email dated 9 January 2018 from Bhaskar to Pfetcher concerning a proposal for Tricontinental to begin operations in India through a private limited company providing research services, rather than initially operating as a non-profit organisation requiring registration to receive foreign grants. The ED has treated the proposed corporate structure as part of a broader pattern of arrangements involving overseas entities and Indian operations.
The ED’s broader allegation is that Purkayastha directed and benefited from the arrangements involving the Rs 9.59 crore investment and approximately Rs 76 crore in service payments, working with Indian and overseas associates.
The investigation has examined whether the transactions were structured to disguise the nature and purpose of foreign funds.
The legal position remains contested. In its 29 May 2026 judgment, the Delhi High Court quashed the underlying FIR and the connected money-laundering proceedings, holding that the allegations did not establish the essential ingredients of the offences invoked. The ED has now challenged that ruling in the Supreme Court.
The allegations detailed in the information accessed by this newspaper remain allegations of the investigating agency and have not been established as findings of guilt by a court.