Razorpay reacts to the Latest Alt News Charges

Financial Gateway In response to the uproar surrounding a ‘questionable’ foreign gift to the fact-checking website AltNews, Razorpay has explained. Razorpay said, ” We will continue to hold the highest standard of data security, defend our customers at all times and also continue to abide by the laws and regulations of India”.

Razorpay added that the company had received a written order from the legal authorities under Section 91 CRPC and “are mandated to comply by the same as per the regulation under the provision of Indian law.

Muhammad Zubair, the co-founder of the fact-checking news organization AltNews, was detained by Delhi police last Friday (June 27) in connection with an “objectionable tweet” he had written in 2018 against a Hindu god. After that, Zunair was detained by authorities for 14 days. His bail application was rejected by the prosecutor, who said that an investigation into alleged foreign donations, including those from Pakistan, was ongoing.

Zubair allegedly collected money through Razorpay from Pakistan, the UAE, Syria, Singapore, and Australia, according to additional public prosecutor Atul Shrivastava. The parent firm of AltNews, Pravda Media, is also alleged to have received more than $25,000 in foreign money from Delhi Police.

Razorpay allegedly shared donor information with the police without telling AltNews. 

According to the fact-checking media website, Razorpay suspended AltNews’ account on its contribution platform in response to a request from the authorities and later enabled it again.

According to Delhi Police, Pravda Media, the parent company of AltNews, got more than 2 lakh rupees through a variety of transactions in which either the mobile phone number or the IP address was from a foreign nation.

It was discovered through an analysis of a response from the Razorpay payment gateway that there were numerous transactions where either the mobile phone number was outside of India or the IP address was from a foreign nation or city, including Bangkok, Australia, Manama, North Holland, Singapore, Victoria, New York, England, Riyadh Region, Sharjah, Stockholm, Abu Dhabi, Washington, Kansas, New Jersey, Ontario, California, Texas, Lower Saxony, Bern, Dubai, Scotland, Delhi. Pravda Media received a total of 2,31,933 from these purchases, it continued.

According to the statement, social media analysis revealed that the majority of the Twitter accounts that backed Zubair and tweeted in his favor following his detention were from Pakistan and Middle Eastern nations like the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait.

The Indian Penal Code’s new sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence), as well as section 35 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, have been used by the police to prosecute Zubair.

also read:

Amazon Expands its Prime Video Watch Party feature to Non-Amazon Streaming Devices

Source