The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed petitions by NewsClick’s founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha and human resources head Amit Chakraborty challenging their police remand in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Live Law reported.

Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said that there was no merit in their petitions.

Purkayastha and Chakraborty were arrested on October 3 after the Delhi Police raided several journalists associated with NewsClick following allegations that the news organisation received money to spread Chinese propaganda. A day later, a city court remanded them to police custody for seven days.

On October 6, Gedela had said that there was something missing from the trial court’s remand order as it was apparently passed without hearing the counsels of the accused men. This was after Purkayastha’s lawyer told the judge that the remand order violates Delhi High Court rules stating that an accused person is entitled to a counsel. However, the High Court refused to grant them interim relief then.

After their police remand ended, Purkayastha and Chakraborty were sent to judicial custody for 10 days.

The High Court is yet to hear Purkayastha and Chakraborty’s petition demanding that the first information report against them be quashed, according to Bar and Bench.

In the FIR registered on August 17, the police accused NewsClick of taking funds from China in a “circuitous and camouflaged manner” to disrupt India’s sovereignty.

The case was registered after The New York Times alleged in an August 5 report that the Indian news website had received money from American businessman Neville Roy Singham, who worked closely with the “Chinese government media machine” to spread its propaganda. The FIR describes Singham as an active member of the propaganda department of the Communist Party of China.