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Forensic probe into AltNews funding still on, says Delhi Police in court
The Delhi Police said the mandatory sanction required under law to take cognisance of the offences against AltNews co-founder Mohammad Zubair is still to be obtained
New Delhi: The Delhi Police has informed a city court that the forensic probe into alleged foreign funding of fact-checking website AltNews and data recovered from its co-founder Mohammad Zubair was still on, even as the mandatory sanction required under law to take cognisance of the offences against him is still to be obtained.
The Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) Unit of the Delhi Police Special Cell filed a charge sheet before chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Shriya Agrawal of the Patiala House court on June 16, nearly three years after a case was registered against Zubair over his alleged objectionable social media posts. HT has seen a copy of the charge sheet.
The court posted the matter for hearing on September 23.
“Donations of over ₹70 lakh were traced through Razorpay to the Pravada Media Foundation (which runs AltNews) under the name of Nirjhira Sinha,” the charge sheet stated. “Forensic and other financial data and information on the money trail of Zubair and AltNews is currently pending and a supplementary charge sheet will be filed later on that aspect.”
The Delhi Police had arrested Zubair on June 27, 2022 in connection with an FIR registered based on a complaint from an X user, claiming one of Zubair’s 2018 posts on the platform hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus. He was granted bail on July 15, 2022.
The charge sheet stated the complaint in the present matter was filed by Gog Raj Chaudhary, a property dealer from Jaipur, based on a tweet by Zubair that allegedly hurt religious sentiments.
