Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair's bail plea rejected by Delhi court, remanded to 14-day judicial custody

New Delhi: The Patiala High Court on Saturday denied Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair's bail plea and granted him 14-day judicial custody. The fact-checker was arrested last week for tweeting an objectionable tweet in 2018 that hurt the religious sentiment of a section of Hindus. Earlier in the day, the IFSO unit of the Delhi Police said that it noted that Twitter handles and accounts supporting Alt News co-founder and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair after his arrest was "mostly" from middle eastern countries" and Pakistan, ANI reported.  Ever since his arrest, several posts and hashtags in support of Mohammed Zubair have been floating across social media. As per Delhi police analysis, most of these supportive tweets are from users staying in Middle East countries or Pakistan

"During social media analysis, it was noticed that Twitter handles supporting Mohammad Zubair after his arrest, were from Pakistan and mostly middle eastern countries like UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait," ANI reported quoting the IFSO unit official.

Mohammed Zubair’s financial transactions monitored

The police further said that from the analysis of the reply received from Razorpay Payment gateway, various transactions, with phone numbers or IP addresses outside India, were from locations including Bangkok, Manama, North Holland, Singapore, Victoria, New York, England, Riyadh Region.

The other locations, as stated by the police, include Baladiyat ad Dawhah, Sharjah, Stockholm, Aichi, Central, Western and Eastern Provinces of UAE, Abu Dhabi, Washington DC, Kansas, New Jersey, Ontario, California, Texas, Lower Saxony, Bern, Dubai, Uusimaa, and Scotland.

"A total of about Rs 2,31,933 have been received by Pravda Media, Alt News parent company," the police said.

Mohammed Zubair case: Criminal conspiracy charge added

Delhi Police sought Mohammed Zubair’s judicial custody after his 4-day remand ended on Saturday. The police have also alleged conspiracy and destruction of evidence in the case by the accused and the relevant sections of the same were added in the FIR.

The police added three new Sections - 201 (for the destruction of evidence - formatted phone and deleted tweets), 120-(B) (for criminal conspiracy) of IPC and 35 of FCRA (Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act) in the matter.

 A bail application has been filed by the counsel for Mohammed Zubair. Meanwhile, Atul Shrivastava has been appointed as the Special Public Prosecutor for Delhi Police in a case related to an alleged objectionable tweet by Zubair.

(With ANI inputs)