Mohammed Zubair of Alt News arrested by Delhi Police, sent to 1 day police custody

In a key development, fact-checker website 'Alt News' co-founder Mohammed Zubair has been arrested by Delhi Police on Monday. The development comes after a First Information Report was registered against Zubair at the Khairabad Police Station on the complaint of Bhagwan Sharan, the district president of Hindu Sher Sena, for allegedly calling Hindu seers- Yati Narasinghanand, Mahant Bajrang Muni and Anand Swaroop-“hatemongers” in a tweet. It is unclear, however, whether this is the remark over which he's been arrested. He's since been sent to one day of Police Custody.

The conduct of Mohammed Zubair was allegedly questionable during the investigation which warranted his custodial interrogation to unravel conspiracy in this matter, Delhi police senior officials said. Accordingly, the 'Alt News' co-founder was arrested and was presented before the court for seeking police custody, with the demand being for 7 days.

"He was evasive on the questions and neither provided the necessary technical equipment for the purpose of the investigation nor cooperated in the investigation," officials said.

The Alt News co-founder was booked under sections 153A (promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) and 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)

Fellow Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha, said in a tweet, "Today, at around 6.45pm we were told he has been arrested in some other FIR for which no notice was given which is mandatory under law for the Sections under which he has been arrested. Nor FIR copy is being given to us despite repeated requests." 

Police in a statement said Zubair was "evasive" on their questions and neither provided the "necessary technical equipment" for the purpose of the investigation nor cooperated in the case.

"During investigation, the conduct of Mohammed Zubair was found questionable, which warranted his custodial interrogation to unravel the conspiracy in this matter. Accordingly, he has been arrested," the statement said, adding that he will be produced in a court here.

According to the officials, Zubair's tweets were getting re-tweeted and it appeared that there was a brigade of social media entities who indulged in hate mongering, thereby leading to a possible ramification on communal harmony and which was against the maintenance of public tranquillity.

On Monday, Zubair joined the probe in a case registered against him in connection with another tweet in 2020. During the investigation of the case, the Delhi Police had given a status report, in which that tweet was not found to be objectionable.

But his subsequent tweets were found to be questionable and derogatory, the police said, adding that in the investigation of FIR number 194/20, Zubair was examined earlier and the probe is about to be concluded.

"In June 2022, when Delhi Police was alerted by a Twitter handle that Mohammad Zubair had made an objectionable tweet earlier and his followers/social media entities had amplified and created a series of debates/hate mongering in the thread, he was examined in the case registered earlier this month and his role was found objectionable," the statement said.

(With PTI inputs)