Delhi Police raid Mohammed Zubair's house in Bengaluru, seize laptop

Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair was arrested Monday for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Hindus through a tweet.

A four-member team of the officials from the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) wing of Delhi Police on Thursday took Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair to his residence in Bengaluru and seized a laptop and hard disk from there as part of its investigation into the case lodged against him for a 2018 tweet that led to his arrest, officials familiar with the matter said. The searches by the team were conducted on the first and ground floors of his residence near Kawal Byrasandra here. The Bengaluru police assisted their Delhi counterparts in the search operation. Zubair was arrested on Monday for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Hindus through the tweet. On Tuesday, a Delhi court had extended his custodial interrogation by four days.

Mohammed Zubair being brought by the Delhi Police to Bengaluru on Thursday. (PTI)

IFSO deputy commissioner of police KPS Malhotra said that raids have been completed and the police team, along with Zubair, will reach the National Capital by Thursday night.

“Our four-member team with Zubair, who is in police custody, reached his house in Bengaluru on Thursday morning and seized some objectionable electronic devices there, including a laptop and a hard-disk. These electronic gadgets are vital evidence and will help us in solving this case. We are still looking for his mobile phone that he used to post the tweet in question,” he said. Malhotra said that the police have also written letters to many banks, in which they have asked for information about Zubair’s account details and other financial transactions. “The recent mobile phone being used by Zubair in Delhi was found formatted and no information related to the case was available in it. Since he had told the police that he lost the phone using which he allegedly posted an objectionable tweet, we raided his Bengaluru residence,” Malhotra said.

Zubair was 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 Indian Penal Code.

(With agency inputs)