New Delhi: Veteran independent journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta’s website and its associated subdomains like adanifiles.paranjoy.in were restored on Monday (November 2) after being taken down from the internet. This was done without any prior warning or intimation, and stood as the digital erasure of “several decades of work.” At 12.37 pm, in a post on X on Monday, Guha Thakurta wrote, “Surprise! Surprise! My website – https://paranjoy.in – has been restored to its original form. What happened Hostinger?”Surprise! Surprise! My website – https://t.co/wwWTPVmrvb – has been restored to its original form. What happened Hostinger?— Paranjoy Guha Thakurta (@paranjoygt) November 2, 2026“I don’t know what happened why it was taken down and why it has been restored. It was an unpleasant surprise and now there’s a pleasant surprise,” Guha Thakurta told The Wire after the restoration.The shut down, according to the journalist, took place mere days after he was served an ex-parte order by Sameer Gahlaut, the chairman of real estate and financial services group Indiabulls, regarding an article that was published seven years ago on Newsclick.Speaking on the issue, a Hostinger spokesperson said, “We understand how much this archive means to many people, and we’re glad to confirm that service for paranjoy.in and its subdomains has been restored and the archive is accessible again. Out of respect for the account owner’s privacy, our team is sharing the details with them directly by email.”“We also take the privacy and confidentiality of all our customers seriously. Given our legal obligations and our commitment to customer confidentiality, we do not confirm or disclose information about individual customer relationships, accounts, or specific suspension and enforcement decisions. For that reason, we’re unable to go beyond the statement above,” the spokesperson added.On X, the journalist on Saturday (October 31) has shared a timeline of events leading up to the deletion of his online archive. On October 24, the day Gahlaut obtained the injunction, an order “directed the removal and de-indexing of the article.” While he was in process of challenging the order legally, Gehlaut submitted a take down complaint to Google LLC on October 26. PUBLIC STATEMENT BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTAOn the arbitrary takedown of https://t.co/TMPhYqaVhe by Hostinger following legal notices from Indiabulls founder Sameer GehlautOctober 31, 2026On the morning of October 28, 2026, my website https://t.co/OeAAoTPXCy and all its associated subdomains, including https://t.co/I8kylhDXVk and https://t.co/D8b6LtNzWD, were abruptly taken offline by our web hosting provider, Hostinger (HOSTINGER operations, UAB). The website, registered twelve years ago, serves as an online archive of my work over several decades as a journalist, author, publisher, and maker of documentary films and music videosHostinger gave no prior intimation, warning, or opportunity to respond before suspending the entire hosting account. When my colleague contacted Hostinger “Support” at 6:48 AM on October 28, a hosting “specialist” stated that the suspension was triggered by an abuse report for “Fraud/Scam” and declared that “unsuspension is not negotiable in this case.”This sudden shutdown of an entire repository under the label “Fraud/Scam” happened just days after Sameer Gehlaut, founder of the Indiabulls group, served me with an ex parte court order demanding the removal of a single article published more than seven years on https://t.co/25noyNupwJ.For over six years, Indiabulls and Shri Gehlaut have pursued legal action over this report and I have consistently defended our journalistic report in court. Here is the timeline:· March 11, 2020: Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited filed a criminal defamation complaint (CC No. 1765/2020) before the Patiala House Courts, New Delhi, against NewsClick, its Reader’s Editor Urmilesh, co-author of the article Sourodipto Sanyal, NewsClick editor Prabir Purkayastha, and me over an article published on the website on September 30, 2019.· June 6, 2025 and July 9, 2025: More than five years after the complaint was filed, a Judicial Magistrate at Patiala House Courts passed an order on June 6, 2025, dropping proceedings against Shri Purkayastha while issuing summons to the remaining four accused, including me, under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code. A formal summons was issued on July 9, 2025, for appearance on July 30, 2025.· August 27, 2026: Counsel for Shri Gehlaut, sent me a legal notice demanding the takedown of the article within 24 to 48 hours, claiming that a status report by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police had altered the factual position.· September 2, 2026: My counsel sent a reply pointing out concerns with the legal notice· October 24, 2026: Indiabulls Nests Limited (Plaintiff No. 1) and Sameer Gehlaut (Plaintiff No. 2) obtained an ex parte ad interim injunction from the Court of one of the District and Sessions Judges, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi, in Civil Suit No. 529/2026 (Indiabulls Nests Ltd. & Anr. v. Ashok Kumar/John Doe & Ors.), in which I am arrayed as Defendant No. 19. The order directed the removal and de-indexing of the article on https://t.co/TMPhYqaVhe (listed as Item A-33 in Schedule A).· October 25, 2026 (10:13 AM IST): Advocates representing Indiabulls Nests Limited and Sameer Gehlaut, emailed me the October 24 court order and suit documents, demanding immediate deletion and written confirmation of compliance.· October 26, 2026 (11:33 PM IST): Sameer Gehlaut personally sent an email from his official address (sameer@indiabulls.com) demanding the immediate deletion of the URL from https://t.co/TMPhYqaVhe and threatening to move the court under Order XXXIX Rule 2A of the Code of Civil Procedure if I did not comply, noting that the matter is next listed on December 18, 2026. While I was in the process of challenging the order dated 24.10.2026 before higher forums, on the same day, advocates representing Shri Gehlaut submitted a court order takedown complaint to Google LLC.· October 28, 2026 (3:16 PM IST): Google Search Console sent an automated notice ([WNC-598900]) informing me that Google was blocking the specific URL https://t.co/SsSVUVLKGX from appearing in search results on https://t.co/2IOZ4I1WqC.The Lumen Database record of this complaint (Notice ID: 101001876) reveals the scale of the takedown request. The complaint targeted 52 URLs on websites across major national and international news organisations, including The Economic Times, Business Standard, The Caravan, The Daily Pioneer, Business Today, Deccan Herald, ET Now, Financial Express, Livemint, Moneycontrol, Moneylife, NDTV Profit, The New Indian Express, Outlook Business, The Quint, Quartz, and NewsClick, along with posts on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Scribd.Most of these reports on major corporate news websites remain accessible online. In fact, Item 39 on the Lumen takedown list is the original September 30, 2019 article published on https://t.co/qQP2N2fxA2: https://t.co/hgneAPvDuF, which remains live and accessible as of now.Yet, in the case of https://t.co/TMPhYqaVhe, the entire domain and every website hosted on my account were wiped off the internet.Hostinger’s Baseless “Fraud/Scam” Claim and Demand for AccountabilityHostinger did not cite the Patiala House Courts order when it suspended my account on October 28, 2026. Instead, its representative claimed that the hosting account was permanently suspended due to an abuse report for “Fraud/Scam”.This allegation is demonstrably false:1. VirusTotal Security Analysis: Independent domain checks conducted on October 28, 2026, at 7:48 AM and 7:54 AM on VirusTotal confirm that 0 out of 92 security vendors flagged https://t.co/TMPhYqaVhe or https://t.co/I8kylhDXVk as malicious, phishing, or fraudulent. VirusTotal explicitly categorises https://t.co/TMPhYqaVhe under “news and media”.2. Google Safe Browsing Status: Checks on the Google Safe Browsing diagnostic tool at 7:55 AM and 7:56 AM on October 28, 2026, for both https://t.co/TMPhYqaVhe and https://t.co/D8b6LtNzWD returned the status: “No unsafe content found”.My website https://t.co/OeAAoTPXCy does not sell financial products, solicit funds for commercial schemes, or engage in any activity that could remotely be classified as a scam. It is a repository of public-interest journalism, books, documentary films, and investigative reports built over a lifetime of work. By acting on a fabricated “Fraud/Scam” abuse report without a single verification check or prior notice to the domain owner, Hostinger has allowed its abuse-reporting mechanism to be weaponised to censor an independent journalist.Even where a court order directs the removal or de-indexing of a specific URL, a web hosting provider has no legal or ethical justification to pull down an entire domain and hundreds of unrelated articles, archives, and subdomains without notice.I demand immediate answers and accountability from Hostinger:1. Who submitted the false “Fraud/Scam” abuse report against https://t.co/TMPhYqaVhe, and on what exact date and time was it received?2. What internal verification did Hostinger’s abuse team conduct before classifying a 12-year-old journalism portal as a “Fraud/Scam” site, especially when 92 security vendors on VirusTotal and Google Safe Browsing show zero malicious or unsafe content?3. Why was no prior notice, warning, or copy of the complaint sent to me before suspending the entire hosting account?4. On what basis did Hostinger’s specialist declare that the suspension of an entire archive of journalistic work is “not negotiable”?While my legal advisers are in the process of taking appropriate steps in court regarding the ex parte order dated October 24, 2026, and the wholesale suspension of my website, this backdoor censorship through web hosting providers sets a dangerous precedent for the independence of the media and freedom of expression as enshrined in Article (19)(1)(a) of the Constitution of India as a fundamental right of every citizen of India.Yours sincerelyParanjoy Guha ThakurtaIndependent Journalist, Author, Publisher and Maker of Documentary Films and Music Videos— Paranjoy Guha Thakurta (@paranjoygt) October 30, 2026The website in question has work that spanned decades – not a single article. It contained hundreds of articles and essays that have been published across various international and national news organisations including investigative reports on the Adani Group focusing on the conglomerate’s operations, corporate history and legal challenges that it is facing. “I was completely taken aback that for one article which is available in the public domain and the link to which I had put up in my website, that hostinger, apparently acting on the directions of court order, has taken down the entire website, which is an archive of the work I have done over decades,” Guha Thakurta told The Wire earlier. “It is worse than swatting a fly with a sledge hammer and I’m deeply disappointed that this website should have acted in this manner.” Also read: ‘I Am Disgusted, But Not Surprised’: Arunachal Police Seek Search-Warrant Against Journalist Tongam RinaMoreover, according to him, Hostinger, the web-hosting company, did not cite the takedown order in its removal, but said that it was responding to an “abuse report for fraud/scam.” “My website http://paranjoy.in does not sell financial products, solicit funds for commercial schemes, or engage in any activity that could remotely be classified as a scam. It is a repository of public-interest journalism, books, documentary films, and investigative reports built over a lifetime of work,” he said. “By acting on a fabricated “fraud/scam” abuse report without a single verification check or prior notice to the domain owner, Hostinger has allowed its abuse-reporting mechanism to be weaponised to censor an independent journalist,” Guha Thakurta added. Also read: Backstory: It’s a Terrible Time to be a Journalist in Modi’s IndiaThe sudden erasure of Guha Thakurta’s work came at a time of rampant digital takedowns, where press freedom is increasingly vulnerable due to opaque processes. Several public personalities and research outlets have flagged the restriction of social media content relating to the anti-chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and anti-Special Intensive Revision protests. The amended IT rules and the easy adherence by social media companies have effectively paved the way for unceremonious takedowns. Ahead of the October 10 protests over the demand of Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had issued an advisory to social media platforms to exercise “enhanced diligence” over potentially misleading content related to public eventsIn a statement, the digital rights advocacy organisation Internet Freedom Foundation had noted that the unpublished advisory raised concerns about legality, free speech and government censorship.India is 157th out of 180 countries in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders. In the 2025 index, India was at 151, so the current ranking marks a six-place drop.This article has been updated and republished at 1.11 pm and 6.47 pm on the same day to reflect the fact that Paranjoy Guha Thakurta’s website was restored and include a Hostinger spokesperson’s statement, respectively.