Arunachal police interrogating Sharjeel Imam
Itanagar: Sedition accused Sharjeel Imam, a JNU research scholar who was arrested by Delhi Police on January 28, is being interrogated by the Arunachal Pradesh Police, an official said late on Friday night.
According to a top police officer, a group of Crime Branch officials of the Arunachal Pradesh Police is interrogating Imam in connection with a sedition case registered here on January 26.
The police registered a case against the JNU student in connection with a video footage where Imam was allegedly heard instigating people to cut-off Assam and the northeastern states from India by blocking rail and road connections.
Imam was brought to Itanagar on Thursday from Guwahati and since then he is being interrogated.
“After two days of extensive questioning, Imam indicated that he had made the speech that was circulated on social media,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Imam, a 32-year-old PhD scholar in modern Indian history and an IIT graduate, came into limelight during the ongoing protest in Shaheen Bagh against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.
He was arrested from his hometown in Bihar’s Jehanabad on January 28 for allegedly making provocative speeches at Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi and in Aligarh.
Besides Arunachal, Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya have also lodged FIRs against him. On February 19, Imam was handed over to an Assam police team by the Patiala House Court in Delhi.
He was sent to police custody twice by a court in Guwahati, where he was thoroughly interrogated by the Assam Police and intelligence officials before being taken to Itanagar on Thursday.
The Crime Branch of Arunachal Pradesh Police had filed a case against Imam on January 26 under charges of sedition, promoting enmity between different groups and making assertions prejudicial to national integration. He is likely to be taken to Manipur once the Arunachal Pradesh Police release him.
