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Police of 2 states jostle for TV anchor’s custody
A case was filed against Ranjan in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan after he allegedly presented Congress MP Gandhi’s remarks on the vandalisation of his office in Kerala last month as his statement on the recent brutal murder of a Hindu tailor by two Muslim men in Udaipur.
The Noida Police on Tuesday arrested television news anchor Rohit Ranjan in connection with the airing of a “misleading” video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi -- a move that came after a team of Chhattisgarh Police was attempting to arrest the journalist in a similar case.
A case was filed against Ranjan in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan after he allegedly presented Congress MP Gandhi’s remarks on the vandalisation of his office in Kerala last month as his statement on the recent brutal murder of a Hindu tailor by two Muslim men in Udaipur. The channel later apologised for the video.
Drama unfolded outside Ranjan’s house in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, around 5.45am after a team of Chhattisgarh Police arrived to execute a warrant issued by a Raipur court on Monday against Ranjan over the clip. However, the TV anchor sought time to go to the washroom, and at around 6.15am, posted a tweet saying that the Chhattisgarh Police landed at his doorstep to arrest him without informing the local police. He tagged Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Ghaziabad and Lucknow Police in the post.
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Minutes later, a team of the Ghaziabad Police arrived at Ranjan’s house and stopped the Chhattisgarh Police from taking him away, a Chhattisgarh police officer said. A minor scuffle broke out between the two sides. Ranjan was later taken to the Indirapuram police station. Once the Chhattisgarh officers reached the police station, they were informed that Ranjan was taken away by the Noida Police, the officer added.
“Today, during investigation into an FIR registered at Sector 20 police station under section 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code, Zee news anchor Rohit Ranjan was picked up from his residence in Niho Scottish society in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad and brought to Noida for questioning. After the interrogation, the suspect was arrested on the basis of evidence. He has been released on bail as the sections against him are bailable offences. Further action is underway,” the Noida Police later said in a statement.
The tussle between the police forces was reminiscent of a May 6 incident wherein the Punjab Police was pitted against their counterparts in Delhi and Haryana over the arrest of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga for alleged provocative statements.
In Chhattisgarh, a case was registered against Ranjan and four others from Zee News by Congress MLA Devendra Yadav at Civil Lines police station in the state capital. They were booked under sections 153 (promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place), 295 ( injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 467 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code.
As Chhattisgarh Police arrived at his house on Tuesday, Ranjan, in the tweet, alleged that “without informing the local police, Chhattisgarh Police is standing outside my house to arrest me”.
“Is this legally correct?” he wrote, tagging the CM and the state police.
In a response nearly two hours later, Raipur police tweeted: “There is no such rule to inform... Still, now they are informed. Police team has shown you court’s warrant of arrest. You should in fact cooperate, join in the investigation and put your defence in court.”
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A Raipur police officer, who was on the spot, said while the Ghaziabad police arrived at 7am, another team of Noida Police arrived at 8.30am to take the anchor away for “questioning”.
A scuffle soon broke out between the two sides, the officer said, asking not to be named. “We asked to tag along with the (Uttar Pradesh) police personnel as we did not want to lose sight of the suspect. They told us that we should follow them to Indirapuram police station in Ghaziabad. However, by the time we reached there, there was no one present at that place,” he added.
The Raipur police team also visited Noida Sector 20 police station and the police commissionerate in Sector 108 to speak to the Noida Police officers but could not get hold of them, he said.“The Raipur Police has submitted a written complaint at Sector 20 police station, copying it to the police commissioner of Gautam Budh Nagar and deputy commissioner of police, Noida zone.”
The officer leading the team, Raipur deputy superintendent of police Udayan Behar, said: “We had an arrest warrant and Uttar Pradesh police prevented us from arresting Ranjan and did not cooperate with us in the investigation. This is a contempt of court. We will take legal action against Uttar Pradesh Police.”
