NEW DELHI: A court here today dismissed the plea of Delhi police seeking voice samples of JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, arrested on sedition charges, after the accused refused to do so.
Metropolitan Magistrate Lovleen rejected the ples of Delhi police which wanted the voice samples for forensic test in relation to the ongoing investigation into the alleged anti-national slogan shouting at the JNU campus on February 9.
The police had arrested both the students after they surrendered on the night of February 23. Umar and Anirban were last night sent to three days police remand at the South Campus Police Station near JNU which was turned into a makeshift court room following an order of the Delhi High Court to "maintain confidentiality" during their remand proceedings.
Police had demanded seven days' custody of the duo, who had allegedly organised a controversial event at JNU on February 9 where anti-India slogans were alleged to have been raised.
Police yesterday also applied for production of JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar so that all the three students can be interrogated together. The Delhi High Court had also directed that during the remand proceedings of Kanhaiya, Umar and Anirban, police must ensure that no one "suffers even a scratch" in wake of the Patiala House court violence on February 15 and 17.
The high court order had come during the hearing on Kumar's bail plea after it was informed that he and Umar and Anirban were apprehending threat to their safety and security during production in Patiala House court for remand proceedings.
According to police before being arrested, Umar and Anirban were questioned for at least five hours in which police inquired about their whereabouts during the phase when cops were on a look out for them.
Police also inquired whether two of them were the main organisers of the February 9 event against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, and whether they were involved in alleged anti-India sloganeering.
The duo had returned to the JNU campus last Sunday after they went into hiding on February 12.
Delhi Police had issued a look-out notice on February 20 against Umar, Anirban and three other students -- Rama Naga, Ashutosh Kumar and Anant Prakash.