Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Tuesday searched 30 locations connected with online news portal NewsClick and its journalists in a case filed under the anti-terror law UAPA following allegations that it received money for pro-China propaganda.

Some journalists, including Urmilesh and Abhishar Sharma, were taken to the Lodhi Road Special Cell office but no one has been arrested so far in the searches concentrated in the Delhi-NCR region, officials said. Founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha was taken to the NewsClick south Delhi office.

Addressing a gathering in Bhubaneswar, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said probe agencies in the country are independent and work in accordance with law.

“… 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.

The Congress and the Samajwadi Party as well as the Press Club of India also reacted to the searches and criticised the government for the action.

The Enforcement Directorate had earlier conducted raids at the firm’s premises to probe its sources of funding. The Special Cell is now continuing the searches on the basis of inputs provided by the central agency, officials said.

The Special Cell has registered a new case under the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and started an investigation, they said.

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

A Special Cell team took journalist Abhisar Sharma with it after questioning him at his home in Noida Extension. The team seized gadgets like mobile phones and laptop of the journalist landing at his home in the morning.

Delhi Police sources said the raids, which started early Tuesday morning, are based on a case registered in August under UAPA and other sections of IPC, including Section 153A (promoting enmity between two groups), 120B (criminal conspiracy).