The Delhi police has indicated that the two controversial events in the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Press Club of India, where anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, could be linked.
The city police has suggested that its investigations reveal that people who allegedly raised anti-India slogans at the Press Club event, of which Delhi University professor S.A.R. Geelani was the convenor, were the same people present at the JNU event.
The police is now mulling transfer of the two cases to its special cell as the two cases are being probed by New Delhi district and South Delhi police teams.
The Delhi police claimed to have identified four more persons, including a woman, linked to the Press Club of India event. Prof. Geelani, who like JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar is facing sedition charges, was on Thursday remanded to judicial custody till March 3.
After Mr Kumar was physically attacked and assaulted twice in two days by a group of lawyers in Patiala House court complex on Wednesday, the police took no chances and produced Prof. Geelani before a metropolitan magistrate at the Chanakyapuri police station.
The police on Wednesday was forced to escort Mr Kumar out of the court complex by dressing him in police uniform and making him wear a helmet. Sensing trouble, the police on Thursday decided not to produce Prof. Geelani at the Patiala House courts. He was finally produced before the magistrate at the police station and was remanded to judicial custody in Tihar jail.
Prof. Geelani was interrogated by teams of officials from RAW and IB intelligence agencies on Thursday.
The police said that its preliminary investigations have revealed that one Mohammed Umar was also suspected to have participated in alleged anti-India sloganeering at the Press Club event. The police is trying to establish whether Mohammad Umar and Democratic Students’ Union member Umar Khalid, who it is seeking in connection with the JNU row is the same person.
“Some Umar had signed on the booking papers of the PCI venue. He had been there when anti-Indian slogans were raised. He is not only missing, but his phone is also switched off. We have gone through his call details record and have come to know that he was in constant touch with (Prof.) Geelani, (DU professor) Javed Ali and a few JNU students,” a source said.
The source said that the banners at the PCI were specially designed by one Tripti and she too was missing. She looked after designing and publishing of the posters, the police said.
“The third person is Mudassar, who held a meeting with (Prof.) Geelani and Umar to conduct a programme at the PCI. After discussing the matter, the trio met (Prof.) Ali and requested him to help them in booking the PCI. We are conducting raids to nab Mudassar, but he is absconding ever since (Prof.) Geelani was arrested.”
The New Delhi police has already formed several teams to look into the incident. The police is also planning to send a team to Nagpur to track Umar. “Once Umar is arrested, everything will be crystal clear as to who was actually involved in the incident,” the source said. “So far, we have gone through only one video clip in which (Prof.) Geelani is seeing addressing an unlawful assembly. We have few more clips against him. Once we analyse all the footage, we will be in a better position to take action against all the accused.”
