Probe agencies free to take action as per law: Anurag Thakur on raids at NewsClick's office

Bhubaneswar: Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said probe agencies in the country are independent and work as per law, referring to the raids conducted at the premises connected with online portal NewsClick in Delhi.

“I need not justify the raid. If someone has done something wrong, probe agencies work on it... Nowhere is it written that if you have got money through illegal manner or done something objectionable, then probe agencies cannot investigate that,” Thakur said.

Delhi Police's Special Cell Tuesday morning conducted raids at 30 premises connected with online portal NewsClick as well as its journalists' houses, triggering outrage against the action among scribes.

“The probe agencies are independent and they work as per the law,” he said in response to queries at a press conference here.

Officials in the know said police have recovered the dump data from laptops and mobile phones of some journalists of NewsClick.

Delhi Police sources said the raids, still ongoing, are based on a case registered on August 17 under UAPA and other sections of IPC.