Days after being arrested over a four-year-old tweet that allegedly made derogatory references to Hindu deities, a team of Delhi Police conducted searches at the Bengaluru residence of the Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair.
Sources said that the team left for Bengaluru early on Thursday and reached his home at around 11:30 am. Mr. Zubair is a resident of North Bengaluru's DJ Halli.
Police said the searches were conducted to recover electronic devices like his phone and laptop, which would be part of police evidence.
This comes after two days after a Delhi court granted the Delhi Police four-day police custody remand of Mr. Zubair.
Mr. Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police's IFSO (Intelligence Fusion and Strategics Operation Unit) on June 27 over a tweet he had posted in 2018. The Delhi Police was alerted to the post by a Twitter handle which had retweeted Mr. Zubair's tweet earlier this month. He was arrested after being called to IFSO's Dwarka office for questioning in a 2020 POCSO case, in which he had already been granted protection from arrest by the Delhi High Court.
Editorial | Theatre of the absurd
Mr. Zubair has been booked under IPC sections pertaining to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings.
