E-Paper
Delhi police’s IFSO unit to probe all 10 FIRs against Nupur Sharma
The IFSO unit probed Alt News founder Mohammed Zubair’s case too. In Zubair’s case, the six FIRs filed in Uttar Pradesh were transferred to Delhi Police.
Delhi Police’s IFSO (intelligence fusion and strategic operations) unit will probe all the 10 FIRs against suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma, against whom cases were filed in different states for inflammatory statements against the Prophet during a TV debate on May 26.
Officials in the IFSO unit, which is the police’s cyber cell, said they are yet to receive a copy of the Supreme Court order. The apex court had on Wednesday ordered that all cases against Sharma would be transferred, clubbed as one and investigated by Delhi Police.
The IFSO unit probed Alt News founder Mohammed Zubair’s case too. In Zubair’s case, the six FIRs filed in Uttar Pradesh were transferred to Delhi Police.
An IFSO officer, who asked not to be named, said, “The order copy will contain details like the submission of case files and the investigation they have conducted so far. The SC order may ask the state police forces to share the files or we may write to them. If need be, we will write to them and ask him for the papers and the evidence they have so far.”
At least nine FIRs were filed against Sharma in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Hyderabad and Delhi. The complainants in all FIRs are different. In Delhi and Hyderabad, the case was filed suo motu by the police, while the complainants in other FIRs include a Trinamool Congress leader, a senior member of a Muslim outfit, a former corporator of the Pune Municipal Corporation and a cleric. Maharashtra police filed the highest number of FIRs against her -- five -- at Pydhonie police station in Mumbai, Mumbra police station in Thane, Bhiwandi in Thane, Kondhwa police station in Pune and Nanalpeth police station, Parbhani.
Once IFSO starts the probe, it is likely to summon the different complainants in cases where the FIR was not registered by police. Sharma, who was suspended from the BJP on June 5 over the insulting remarks, has been questioned by Delhi Police once. Police in Mumbai earlier claimed that she was evading summons. Sharma in her plea before the Supreme Court claimed threats to her life in moving across different parts of the country to face prosecution proceedings.
