Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair sent to 14-day police custody

The Delhi Police brought Zubair to Sitapur in connection with a case registered against him at the Khairabad police station for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through a tweet.

A court here on Thursday granted the custody of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair to the UP Police till July 14.

Zubair was brought here from Delhi's Tihar Jail on Thursday afternoon amid tight security.

The Delhi Police brought Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair to Sitapur in connection with a case registered against him at the Khairabad police station for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through a tweet.

Earlier, he was brought on July 4 and the court had sent Zubair to a 14-day judicial custody.

Zubair was taken back to the Tihar Jail where he has been lodged after his arrest on June 27 in another case of hurting religious sentiments.

Zubair's advocate Mukul Mishra told mediapersons that while he was in custody under Section 295A of the IPC and Section 66 of the IT Act, Section 153A of the IPC was added by police today when hearing for his bail matter was held.

Later, police gave another application asking for remand claiming that the mobile phone he used for making the alleged tweet is still in Bengaluru, Mishra said.

Arguments on police remand were heard and his bail application rejected.

The court has granted the state police his custody from July 8 to 14, Mishra added.

Sources said Zubair may be taken to Bengaluru for recovery of the mobile and hard disk that were used to spread the alleged hate tweets.