ED moves SC against Delhi HC order quashing PMLA case against news portal NewsClick

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has approached the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court order quashing a money laundering case against online news portal NewsClick and its founder Prabir Purkayastha.

In its appeal, the ED contended that the May 29, 2026, HC order “fails to deal with any of the evidence and incriminating material submitted before the Court” by it in support of the allegations.

The agency said that the HC had held that “despite investigation being carried out for a year and a half, no incriminating material has been found” and added that this is “erroneous”.

The ED highlighted how the HC’s intervention had prevented it from fully investigating the case.

It said the “test of quashing at the stage of investigation is only to see the allegations and not whether any incriminating material is found”. It also pointed out that “since as far back as 21.06.2021, the…High Court had granted an order of no coercive action to be taken against the respondents, and the ED’s multiple applications seeking clarifications and vacation of stay was kept pending for around 3 years. Hence, there was always an embargo on the ED to have fully investigated the case.”

The probe agency said the “impugned order was reserved by the Hon’ble High Court on 03.12.2025 and was pronounced on 29.05.2026, i.e., after a delayed period of 5 months and 26 days, which is contrary to the judgment of this Hon’ble Court in ‘Ravindra Pratap Shahi vs. State of U.P. & Ors”. It added that “from a reading of the judgment it appears that due to the lapse of such period in pronouncing the judgment, several critical contentions raised by the prosecution were overlooked or left unaddressed by the…High Court”.

The HC had quashed an FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police and the money laundering case initiated by the ED. Both proceedings stemmed from a 2020 complaint alleging that the media company had received Foreign Direct Investment through an artificially inflated share transaction to circumvent FDI limits on digital news media.

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The HC held that even accepting the state’s allegations in their entirety, the essential ingredients of the charged offences were not made out.