Three Jamia student’s namely Abdul Bari, Junaid Ashraf and Rahim Yusuf have come under the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) scanner for their alleged link with the mastermind of the Shaheen Bagh protests and a columnist at The Wire Sharjeel Imam, who is in police custody after his secessionist speeches declaring war against India.
According to a Times Of India report, the SIT has found that Imam was not alone when he addressed the crowd at Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University two days prior to the anti-CAA violence in Jamia last month.
These three Jamia students had allegedly accompanied The Wire columnist. Police sources said that the three students, Abdul Bari, Junaid Ashraf and Rahim Yusuf were spotted during the riots and at the protest attended by Sharjeel Imam. Their role during the protest on December 13 is being probed. They were interrogated on Thursday by the SIT too.
Crime Branch team of Delhi Police have now recovered Imam’s phone from a house in Jehanabad district of Bihar. The police have been looking for Sharjeel’s mobile since the day the police arrested Sharjeel and finally, they have found his phone. Sources said during interrogation, Sharjeel first claimed that his mobile phone was in his room at JNU, but when police didn’t find it there, he claimed that it was at a friend’s house in Bihar.
While the video of his seditious speech has been sent for forensic analysis the Police are also probing Sharjeel Imam’s links to PFI and Islamic Youth Federation.
During interrogation, it was revealed that Sharjeel Imam is highly radicalized and wants to turn India into an Islamic state. Delhi Police sources to news agency ANI have said that he has admitted of giving the seditious speech he is accused of and has said that no tampering has been done with the videos. He has also reportedly admitted that he knew that he can be arrested for sedition but went ahead to deliver his speeches anyway.
Further, the police inform that Imam has no remorse over his arrest. All his videos are being sent to a forensic science lab and his social media accounts are being examined, informed the police. As per reports, he said that the speech doing rounds on social media is not its full length. The police believe that his seditious speech was well planned and not in the heat of the moment.
Imam, who masterminded the Shaheen Bagh road blockade to protest against the CAA, was arrested by Delhi Police from Bihar after multiple FIRs were filed against him for his seditious speech. Addressing a gathering at Aligarh, Imam had urged Muslims to come together and cut off the Siliguri Corridor aka the chicken’s neck, which connects the seven northeastern states to rest of India. He had also earlier made provocative speeches where he had asked Muslims to come out and block roads of India and bring it to a standstill so as to get international media attention.
Imam is also a columnist with leftist propaganda website, The Wire.
