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.
