An online controversy that erupted in December 2025 over allegations of a foreign-funded media influence network linked to the Indian National Congress has escalated further, with an independent OSINT researcher now stating that the Telangana Police has moved to file an FIR against him.
The controversy began on 20 December 2025, when an OSINT researcher operating the X handle The Hawk Eye published a detailed thread alleging the existence of a coordinated media narrative ecosystem with foreign funding links, naming Kota Neelima, wife of Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, as a central figure. The thread stated that Neelima was associated with PROTO, which the researcher alleged played a role in determining which Indian journalists received foreign funding.
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT 🚨
Congress. Foreign-Funding. Media. Narrative.
The man character of this story influence the media-narrative in India, controlled by US & Jamaat elements.
At the centre of it – Congress spox Pawan Khera’a wife Neelima Kota.
— The Hawk Eye (@thehawkeyex) December 20, 2025
Within hours, Neelima publicly threatened legal action, accusing the researcher of publishing defamatory and malicious content. In a post on X, she said she was “shocked” by what she described as a defamatory rant masquerading as investigation and announced that civil and criminal proceedings would be initiated against the author, publisher, and those amplifying the content.
The OSINT thread alleged that PROTO was founded in 2018 by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and functioned as a conduit for foreign funds to journalists. It further stated that ICFJ receives funding from entities such as the Open Society Foundations, USAID, and that the funding chain also involved the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD). According to the researcher, these organisations in turn received funds from groups such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which he noted has been expelled by several countries for alleged regime-change activities.
The thread further alleged that Neelima had played a key role since 2017 in building a media ecosystem through initiatives such as the Institute of Perception Studies, Rate The Debate, Hakku Initiative, and StudioAdda, which allegedly hosted several journalists between 2020 and 2025 who were critical of the BJP. It also stated that these platforms influenced the pre-screening and selection of journalists for foreign funding.
More explosive allegations in the thread involved reported Islamist links, asserting that PROTO founder Nasr ul Hadi oversaw journalist selection for South Asia, while his brother Saif ul Hadi was associated with Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and its Vision 2040 initiative. The researcher alleged a “division of roles” in which foreign funding supported media narratives while Islamist mobilisation occurred on the ground, with political amplification by the Congress party.
As of December 2025, neither the Congress party nor the organisations named in the thread, including PROTO, ICFJ, or GFMD, issued detailed public responses addressing the specific allegations. Neelima’s legal threat remained the only formal response.
The controversy took a new turn on 26 January 2026, when The Hawk Eye stated to have received an email from X Support informing him that the Telangana Police had filed, or were in the process of filing, an FIR against him and another handle, @IamTheStory__, in connection with the December thread. The researcher stated that the posts in question were based entirely on open-source information.
I’ve received an email from X Support informing me that the Telangana Police have filed (or seeking to file) an FIR against me and @IamTheStory__ , over a thread which is based entirely on open-source information.
What’s more intriguing that after my thread, the PROTO website… https://t.co/JdTmb8MC9F pic.twitter.com/g7OJYFelte
— The Hawk Eye (@thehawkeyex) January 26, 2026
Adding to the controversy, the OSINT handle pointed out that following the publication of the thread, the PROTO website had quietly removed Neelima Kota’s image from its homepage. The researcher cited archived snapshots of the website showing that her image was present before 20 December 2025, and removed shortly thereafter, questioning why the image was deleted if the allegations were entirely false.
Reacting to the FIR development, the OSINT researcher accused the use of state machinery to intimidate citizens for asking uncomfortable questions, calling it a direct assault on free speech. Addressing Neelima and Pawan Khera publicly, he said that questioning politicians and those connected to power was a constitutional right, not a crime, and asserted that if silencing dissent through FIRs was the chosen path, the matter should be decided by Indian courts.
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