India / Zubair erased data from phone, laptop, claims police, team will go to Bangalore

The Patiala House court on Tuesday extended by four days the police custody of Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair. Police had arrested Zubair on Monday evening for inciting religious sentiments. The police claimed that the accused had erased the data from the laptop and mobile, which is yet to be recovered.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Court, Snigdha Sarwaria said that Zubair was not cooperating with the police in the investigation. Also, the recovery of the electronic device used for the tweet is yet to be done. Making this remark, he extended Zubair's police custody by four days so that the police could take him to Bengaluru for recovery of his phone and laptop. The police had demanded an extension of the period of custody by five days. The court passed the order after Delhi Police said that the accused was not cooperating and his mobile phone/laptop was to be recovered from his house in Bengaluru.

medical examination order

Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Zubair, submitted that the photo used by his client in the tweet is from an old Hindi film 'Kissi Se Na Kehna' made by Hrishikesh Mukherjee in 1983 and the film was not banned. However, the court said that this does not help the accused. The court ordered Zubair to appear again on July 2 and undergo medical examination.

The accused said - the police is misusing the power

Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the accused, opposed the demand for extension of police custody in the court. He said that the police was misusing the power. The police called the client for questioning in another case but arrested him in a hurry. The advocate said that the counsel for his team had downloaded copies of the remand application from an online TV channel. The police have not yet given them the copy.

Who is Mohammad Zubair

Mohammad Zubair is a resident of Bangalore. He previously worked as an IT executive. After this, in the year 2017, Zubair along with Prateek Sinha launched Alt News as a fact check website. He is its co-founder.

Team investigating the source of money in the account

Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair's account has come to know about 50 lakh rupees in a few days. The police team is ascertaining from where and for what purpose the money was sent. According to Delhi Police sources, the transactions in the account of the accused are being investigated.