Delhi Police on Saturday revealed that Twitter accounts supporting Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair after his arrest for hurting religious sentiments, destroying evidence, and other charges, majorly belonged to Pakistan, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, and other middle-east nations.
According to social media analysis, Twitter users who posted in support of Mohammed Zubair were mostly from the middle-east countries and Pakistan after the Alt News co-founder was arrested for hurting religious sentiments with a Hinduphobic post insulting Lord Hanuman.
During social media analysis, it was noticed that Twitter handles supporting Mohammad Zubair after his arrest, were from Pakistan & mostly middle eastern countries like UAE, Bahrain & Kuwait
— ANI (@ANI) July 2, 2022
A total of about Rs 2,31,933 have been received by Pravda Media, Alt News parent company
Seeking 14-day judicial custody of Zubair, Delhi Police have contended that the accused is involved in a conspiracy and the destruction of evidence, and had received donations from foreign countries. The police have added Section 35 of The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, to the FIR against him.
Besides, the Police have also added three new Sections – 201 (for the destruction of evidence – formatted phone & deleted tweets), 120-(B) (for criminal conspiracy) of IPC against Mohammed Zubair.
When Zubair’s advocate highlighted the tweet in question was posted four years ago, Atul Shrivastava, who is representing Delhi Police, said the case is not time-barred and it is still a continuing offence as the tweet is still there.
The Delhi Police pointed out that the case is not just about a simple tweet but about foreign donations received by the accused’s organisation, including from Pakistan and Syria. The police argued that given the gravity of the charges against Zubair, his bail application should be dismissed, especially after the deletion of data from his phone after the filing of the FIR against him.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also sought the bank account details of alleged fact-checker Mohammed Zubair. The central agency has asked for First Information Report (FIR) and remand papers from the Delhi police. ED will scrutinise Zubair’s bank account details to check for money laundering. According to the Delhi Police, Zubair’s AltNews has received donations through Razor Pay from countries like Pakistan, Syria and Australia, which required thorough investigation.
Mohammed Zubair was arrested on June 28 by the Delhi Police for hurting religious sentiments via derogatory social media posts targeting Hinduism. He was booked under Sections 153A and 295 of the Indian Penal Code. The FIR was based on a tweet by Twitter user @balajikijaiin where the user had shared a screenshot of an old tweet by Zubair in which he had mocked Lord Hanuman. In the tweet, @balajikijaiin had tagged the Delhi Police and asked them to take action against Zubair for hurting the sentiments of Hindus with his derogatory post against Lord Hanuman.
