Delhi police searches Alt News co-founder Zubair’s house in Bengaluru

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru

 A four-member team of the Delhi Police on Thursday searched Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair's residence in Bengaluru as part of the investigation related to his 2018 tweet that led to his arrest. The police personnel brought Zubair to Bengaluru on Thursday morning.

According to a senior officer, the police team came to the city to collect electronic evidence related to the case. "This includes his mobile phone or the laptop that he must have used to post the tweet in question," the officer said.

However, later the officer claimed that the mobile phone being used by Zubair has been formatted and does not have any information related to the case. Zubair also claimed that he had lost his phone using which the objectionable tweet was posted in 2018, police said.

Zubair was arrested on Monday for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. On Tuesday, a Delhi court had extended his police custody till July 2.

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

Meanwhile, the anonymous Twitter handle which flagged the tweet and raised a complaint, does not exist anymore in the social media platform.

Zubair has been booked 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, according to police.