Supreme Court seeks response from NewsClick, Purkayastha on ED plea against High Court order
At the outset, the counsel appearing for the ED submitted that they needed four weeks' time as Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, representing the agency, was not available
On November 6, 2026, the Supreme Court sought responses from news portal NewsClick and its editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha in connection with a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED challenged the Delhi High Court order that quashed a money laundering case for alleged violations of foreign direct investment (FDI) rules. The Supreme Court's Bench, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, gave the news portal and Purkayastha four weeks to respond.
In their plea, the ED argued that the Delhi High Court's quashing of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) was premature, as it did not scrutinize the prosecution's Persistent Money Laundering Activities (PMLA) case. Additionally, the ED contended that the quashing process was delayed by five months. The Additional Solicitor General, S.V. Raju, who represented the ED, stated that the four-week adjournment was necessary as he was unavailable.
The Delhi High Court dismissed the ED's concerns, stating that the FIR registration by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police was a misuse of the legal process. On May 29, the High Court had ruled that once the FIR under the predicate offense was quashed, the ED's ECIR in the matter should also be closed. The FIR alleged that Newsclick Studio Pvt.
Ltd., NewsClick's parent company, received an FDI of ₹9.59 crore from Worldwide Media Holdings LLC, USA in 2018-19, which violated the FDI law and caused a loss to the government exchequer.
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