Delhi Police claimed that they have evidence that in the last three months, transaction amounting to ₹ 50 lakh was made into Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair’s account.
New Delhi: Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of the fact-checking website Alt News, is in police custody after posting a “objectionable” tweet, and the Delhi Police on Wednesday sent letters to several banks requesting information about his bank account information and other financial transactions, according to officials. Mr. Zubair was detained on Monday after reportedly offending religious sensitivities in a tweet he posted in 2018 about a Hindu god.
“We are currently focusing on the source of donation and other financial transactions made into the bank accounts associated with Alt News. We have evidence that in the last three months, transaction amounting to ₹ 50 lakh was made into one of the accounts. We are further analysing the transactions made from multiple bank accounts,” a senior police officer said.
He said Mr Zubair will be taken to Bengaluru on Thursday in connection with the probe.
“Our team will take Zubair to Bengaluru tomorrow to seize the devices, including the mobile phone and laptop, that might have been used to post the tweet in question, and also to collect other evidence linked to the case,” the officer said.
Police had said that the objectionable tweet “led to a Twitter storm with hate speeches which was detrimental to communal harmony”.
The officer also said that the mobile phone used by the journalist at present has been formatted and does not have information related to the case.
According to police, Mr Zubair, when asked about the phone he used when he allegedly posted the tweet in question, said he had lost it.
Meanwhile, the anonymous Twitter handle, a complaint from which led to Mr Zubair’s arrest, does not exist on the microblogging website anymore, sources in the Delhi Police said. A Delhi court had on Tuesday extended by four days the custodial interrogation of Mr Zubair. During the hearing, Mr Zubair’s counsel said that the photo which he had used in the tweet was from a 1983 film by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, “Kissi Se Na Kehna”, and that the film was not banned.
The court, however, rejected the submission, saying it was of no assistance to the accused at this stage. The Delhi Police had also told the court that Mr Zubair allegedly “used controversial tweets to hurt religious feelings in an effort to get fame”.
On June 20, a case against Mr Zubair was registered under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, language etc.) and 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the DCP said.
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