Alt News’s Razorpay account was temporarily disabled on Monday. The matter was raised by Alt News in the afternoon of July 4th, after multiple people were unable to donate to the fact-checking website. Razorpay activated the account a few hours later. An update for those who have reached out to us regarding sending donations: pic.twitter.com/IBJ1cx83mC — Alt News (@AltNews) July 4, 2022 ‘Razorpay is a law-abiding, fully compliant organization,’ a Razorpay spokesperson informed MediaNama. ‘The merchant account was deactivated from the Razorpay platform temporarily, as a safety precaution, during the preliminary investigation by the law enforcement authorities. Following clarity on the issue, we have unblocked and reactivated the account.’ At the time of publishing this article, the spokesperson has not yet specified the nature of ‘clarity’ that Razorpay received. This move follows the Delhi Police’s submissions to the Patiala House Court in the investigation of Alt News co-founder, Mohammed Zubair. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria denied Zubair bail on July 2nd, remanding him to 14 days of judicial custody. During the proceedings, Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava alleged that Zubair received Razorpay payments of over ₹2 lakh from countries including Pakistan, Australia, Singapore, UAE, and Syria, all of which required further investigation. Receiving these payments could potentially contravene the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Zubair, argued that the claims made in court were misleading and contradicted a police statement—which noted that Pravda Media Foundation (Alt News' parent company) received the donations, as…
