Police say foreign funds not used for JNU event

The police said no foreign funding was involved in the February 9 incident on the JNU campus where students allegedly raised anti-national slogans.

The police said no foreign funding was involved in the February 9 incident on the JNU campus where students allegedly raised anti-national slogans.

JNU teachers and students form a human chain inside the campus in protest against the arrest of JNUSU president Kanhaiya at JNU campus, in New Delhi. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

Sources said the police came to this conclusion after JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, both charged with sedition in the February 9 event, were interrogated for 12 hours on Wednesday.

The duo had surrendered before the police half an hour before midnight on Tuesday.

Police sources said that the two were questioned in two phases and the interrogation was conducted in-camera. Later in the day, a magistrate was called to the RK Puram police station who remanded both the JNU students in police custody for three days.

Officers privy to the investigation told HT that Khalid and Bhattacharya were questioned separately at regular intervals by a team of 10 officers, including two ACPs and three inspectors, While Khalid reportedly cooperated with the police, Bhattacharya remained silent on most of the questions, said sources.

Khalid is learnt to have told police that organising the event to commemorate Afzal Guru’s hanging was his idea. He reportedly said Bhattacharya prepared the posters for the event while Riyaz, another JNU student who is yet to surrender, arranged the sound system and publicised the event on social media. He named one Banjyotsana Lahiri as the coorganiser of the event. His claims are being verified, said police.

Both said outsiders raised the anti-national slogans.

Sources said the two students were asked about their whereabouts between February 12 and February 21 and who helped them evade arrest. “They were asked why did they shout anti-national slogans. They were asked if there was someone who incited them against the country,” police sources said.