LUCKNOW: In order to probe into half a dozen cases registered against Alt News Co-founder Mohammad Zubair in different districts of Uttar Pradesh, the state government has set up a special investigation team (SIT) headed by Inspector General of Police (IG) Dr Preetinder Singh. The other member of the team is Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Amit Verma.
According to the Additional Director General of Police (ADG) (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar, the SIT chief, presently posted at the department of prisons administration and reform, would select three other members, including an Additional SP, a Deputy SP and an inspector, to assist him in the investigation.
Dr Preetinder Singh is a 2004-batch IPS officer while Verma, who is a 2008-batch IPS officer, is presently posted at UP Police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) department.
ADG (Law and order) claimed that SIT would be free to take assistance of police of respective districts where the case was lodged against the journalist. He said that the local police would hand over all documents related to the case against Zubair to the SIT.
Kumar said that SIT was set up to ensure an impartial and transparent probe in all six cases lodged against Zubair.
“The SIT will probe the cases and file a charge sheet soon,” he added.
Zubair, who was lodged at Sitapur jail in UP, was sent to Tihar jail in Delhi Monday evening.
Of the six cases, two are lodged in Hathras district while one each in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad and Muzaffarnagar.
As per UP police records, the FIR registered in Sitapur’s Khairabad police station on the complaint of one Bhagwan Sharan against Zubair pertains to an alleged derogatory tweet against Mahant Bajrang Muni, Yati Narsinghanand and Swami Anand Swaroop on May 27, this year.
The one lodged in Lakhimpur Kheri’s Mohammadi police station on the complaint of a local TV journalist Ashish Katiyar over a tweet on Israel and Palestine conflict allegedly to defame the TV channel in September 2021.
In Ghaziabad district, an FIR was lodged against Alt News co-founder at Loni border police station on June 15, 2021.
Similarly, in Muzaffarnagar’s Charthawal police station, one Ankur Rana lodged an FIR accusing Zubair of issuing threat to his life on July 27, 2021.
The two FIRs are lodged in Hathras district’s Sikandararu and Kotwali.
The police sources claimed that all the FIRs, barring Charthawal, were lodged under IPC Section 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 505 (publishing or circulating any statement, rumour or report with intent to incite).
While in Sitapur case, the journalist has got a reprieve from the Supreme Court which had granted him interim bail, in the Lakhimpur case, he has been given into 14-day judicial remand by the local court. The court will hear the police plea to take him on custodial remand on July 13.