Delhi Police Conduct Searches At Altnews Co-founder Mohammed Zubair's Bengaluru Residence To Recover Electronic Devices

A Delhi police team today (Jun 30) afternoon flew Altnews co-founder Mohammed Zubair to Bengaluru and conducted searches at his house for about three hours to recover his electronic devices as part of the investigation related to his 2018 tweet that led to his arrest, police said.

The co-founder of AltNews was booked under sections related to deliberately promoting enmity and outraging religious feelings after a Twitter user tagged Delhi police, saying his tweet insulted a Hindu god.

On Tuesday, a Delhi court had extended his custodial interrogation by four days.

The searches by the four-member team were conducted on the first and ground floors of his residence near Kawal Byrasandra here.

While leaving, a Delhi police team member was seen carrying a laptop bag in his hand.

The Bengaluru police assisted their Delhi counterparts in the search operation.

'Our four-member team, along with Zubair who is currently in police custody, reached his house in Bengaluru. Our team members are there to collect electronic evidence in relation to the case. This includes his mobile phone or the laptop that he must have used to post the tweet in question,' a senior officer said.

On Wednesday, the police had written to multiple banks seeking information about Zubair's account details and other financial transactions.

The officer also said the mobile phone being used by the co-founder of the fact-checking website has been formatted and does not have information related to the case.

According to police, Zubair has said he lost the phone which was allegedly used in posting the objectionable tweet.

Meanwhile, the anonymous Twitter handle which flagged the tweet and raised a complaint, does not exist on the microblogging site anymore, sources in the Delhi Police said.

Zubair has faced criticism for posting a cropped video from a television debate that showed former Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma commenting on the marriage of Islam’s founder.

Zubair had accompanied the clip, posted in May, with a caption that called Sharma a “rabid communal hatemonger” and accused her of speaking “ill about other religions” which “can incite riots”.

The larger video, however, showed that Sharma was reacting to insults and jokes directed at Shivalinga, a symbol of reverence for Hindus.

Zubair’s tweet led to a spate of death and beheading threats made to Sharma. Massive rallies were taken out in May and June demanding death and beheading for Sharma. An effigy of Sharma was hung at a street in Karnataka.

(With inputs from PTI)