Sharjeel Imam distributed pamphlets with misleading info about NRC, CAA: Delhi Police

The police, which recently raided Sharjeel Imam's rented house in Delhi's Vasant Kunj and his parents' house in Bihar, said that he distributed these 'misleading pamphlets' in nearby mosques.

Jawaharlal Nehru University student Sharjeel Imam, who was arrested in a sedition case, printed pamphlets with misleading information on the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens, Delhi Police said on Friday.

The police, which recently raided Sharjeel Imam's rented house in Delhi's Vasant Kunj and his parents' house in Bihar, said that he distributed these 'misleading pamphlets' in nearby mosques. The police have also identified the photocopy shop where Sharjeel printed the pamphlets.

The PhD scholar at the Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for Historical Studies has been booked for sedition and other charges in several states after videos of his alleged inflammatory speeches, made during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), were circulated on the social media.

Anti-CAA activist Sharjeel Imam was arrested by the Delhi Police's Crime Branch from Bihar's Jehanabad on Tuesday. He was brought to Delhi on Wednesday and produced at the residence of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Purushottam Pathak in the evening amid tight security after which police were granted his five-day custody.

As part of the investigation, the police raided his residence in Vasant Kunj, where they recovered one laptop and one desktop computer. The police also raided his parents' house in Jehanabad. There they found Sharjeel Imam's phone. The laptop and phone have been sent for further probe.

Meanwhile, the police are questioning Imam over his alleged inflammatory speeches at the Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University. As per reports, Sharjeel Imam has admitted that the videos of his speeches were genuine and not tampered with.

As part of the investigation, it is being probed if he was linked to the Islamic Youth Federation and the Popular Front of India.

An FIR was registered against Imam by the Delhi Police on January 25 under IPC sections 124A (sedition) and 153A (promoting or attempting to promote disharmony or feelings of enmity on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever) among others.