Bihar: Wanted in four states, JNU’s Sharjeel Imam caught in Jehanabad

PATNA: Sharjeel Imam, the JNU student on the run since January 24 after FIRs were filed against him four states, was arrested by a joint team of Delhi and Bihar Police in Jehanabad around 3 pm on Tuesday. He was produced in a local court, which granted a transit remand of 36 hours to the Delhi Police to take him to the national capital.
The PhD scholar, who reportedly played a key role in the launch of the Shaheen Bagh protest against the CAA, faces charges ranging from sedition to promotion of religious enmity.He was reportedly caught at his ancestral village of Malik Tola in Kako.
“We arrested Sharjeel in the Kako police station area during a joint operation by police personnel from Bihar and Delhi. Earlier, the crime branch of Delhi Police had lodged an FIR against him,” Bihar ADG (headquarters) Jitendra Kumar said, adding, “Further details about him and the case can only be shared by Delhi Police.”
Another officer privy to the operation against the JNU scholar, added, “Prior to Sharjeel’s arrest, police carried out search operations at Sabjibagh, Alamganj and Phulwarisharif (all in Patna) and Jehanabad after a Delhi Police team arrived in the state on Saturday.”
Sources said as part of their search operation, Delhi Police had earlier questioned three member of Sharjeel’s family, including his brother Muzammil Imam.
Sharjeel went into hiding after UP Police slapped a sedition case on him following his inflammatory speech at Aligarh Muslim University where he allegedly said Muslims should cut off Assam from the rest of India. Later, three FIRs were lodged against him in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
In a tweet purportedly posted more than an hour after his arrest, Sharjeel claimed that he had given himself up to police. He wrote, “I have surrendered to the Delhi Police on 28.1.2020 at 3 PM. I am ready and willing to operate (sic) with the investigation. I have full faith in due process of law. My safety and security are now in the hand of Delhi Police. Let peace prevail.”
His lawyers, too, released a statement claiming that he surrendered before the Delhi police team at Kako on Tuesday.
“We received Delhi Police summons under Section 160 CrPC on Monday after which we (a team of two lawyers) flew to Patna from Delhi and reached Jehanabad around 2.45pm. We handed over the summons to Sharjeel after which he appeared before the Delhi Police team with us,” Sharjeel’s counsel Ahmad Ibrahim told TOI. He added that Sharjeel was formally arrested after being taken to Kako police station.
“Sharjeel has been brought to Patna by Delhi Police. We will prove in court that he did not say anything seditious,” Ibrahim said, adding, “The FIR lodged by Delhi Police is for several speeches delivered by Sharjeel between December last and January this year.”
Reacting to the arrest, CM Nitish Kumar said, “Anyone who acts like this will be arrested. Nobody should go against national interest and the Constitution. Giving opinion is one thing but saying that they will break the country is impossible,” Nitish said, adding, “No one in this world can break India.”
Locals said Sharjeel’s family is associated with the ruling JD (U). One of them recalled, “Sharjeel’s father, the late Akbar Imam, had lost in the 2005 assembly election when he fought from Jehanabad on a JD (U) ticket. His uncle, Arshad Imam, is a block-level leader of JD(U) at Kako. His brother, Muzammil, is a social worker.”