Mohammed Zubair was taken into custody by the Delhi Police Special Cell's IFSO (Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations) team on Monday evening.
A four-member team from Delhi Police's Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) wing took Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair to his Bengaluru residence and seized a laptop and hard disc as part of its investigation into the case lodged against him for a 2018 tweet that led to his arrest, officials familiar with the matter said.
The team searched the first and ground floors of his property near Kawal Byrasandra. The Bengaluru police assisted their Delhi counterparts in the search.
Case against Zubair
A case was lodged against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair on the basis of a complaint by a Twitter user. While tagging the Delhi police, the user had pointed out how Zubair was deliberately linking Honeymoon with Lord Hanuman from an old movie clip.
In his objectionable tweet, Zubair claimed that a hotel named ‘Honeymoon’ was changed to ‘Hanuman’ in 2014 to keep up with Indian values.
Arrested by Delhi Police
Mohammed Zubair was arrested on Monday (June 27) for infringing on the religious emotions of the Hindu community. He was charged under Sections 153 (inciting riot) and 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings)
“The said post of Mohd. Zubair containing picture & words against a particular religious community are highly provocative & done deliberately which are more than sufficient to incite hatred among people which can be detrimental for maintenance of public tranquillity,” Delhi Police said.
Sent to 4-days police remand
On June 28, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Savaria had sent Zubair to police custody for four days as the police claimed he was "uncooperative" and needed to be taken to his Bengaluru residence for the recovery of the phone/laptop used to post the tweet that prompted a user complaint.
Senior Advocate Vrinda Grover arguing for Zubair’s bail, told the court that the police were ‘abusing its power.’ “Today, my laptop and phone are a storehouse of my personal information. They want my laptop because I am a journalist. Our laptops contain sensitive information. A fishing enquiry begins when the laptop is seized.
She further argued that the ‘journalist’ had tweeted a screenshot from a 1983 movie cleared by the censor board. “Many have tweeted the same, the only difference between those handles and mine is my faith, my name and my profession,” lawyer Vrinda Grover said, inferring that Zubair was being targeted since he is a Muslim and a journalist.
The Delhi police found Zubair to be non-cooperative and evasive during interrogation, following which they sought his custody.
Donations made to Alt News also be probed
An Investigation officer from the Delhi Police Special Cell said in a statement that the donations made to the Alt News website would also be probed. Hindustan Times quoted an unnamed officer investigating the case saying that they were looking into donations to the website as some of those were allegedly made from ‘across the border’.
Earlier, Delhi Police said in a statement that transactions worth 50 lakh were done from Zubair’s account in the last few days.
However, Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha tweeted that, “Absolutely lies. Police is linking donations received by Alt News to Zubair. All the money that Alt News receives goes to the organisation’s bank account and not any individuals. The bank statement of Zubair’s personal account of which I have a copy debunks this falsehood,” he wrote.
In the latest development, Delhi Police on Sunday has sought judicial custody of Mohammaed Zubair after his 4-day remand ended on Saturday.
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