Md Zubair's Phone Formatted, Delhi Police Team To Visit Bengaluru Residence To Recover Evidence: Report

Hours after Alt News Co-Founder Mohammed Zubair was sent to a found-day Police remand in a case related to an "objectionable tweet", an official from the Delhi Police has said that four-member police team will be sent to Zubair's house in Bengaluru on Wednesday to recover evidence. The Police official informed that the team will look out for mobile phone and laptop from the journalist's residence used by him to post the tweet in question, news agency PTI reported.

The official also stated that the mobile phone Zubair is using currently is formatted and does not have information regarding the case that is being investigated by Delhi Police. However, the phone will be sent to forensic lab for examination, the official said. 

The recent remarks from Delhi Police official comes hours after the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Patiala House Court Snigdha Sarvaria sent Zubair to four-day Police remand after the expiry of his one-day custodial interrogation.

Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police on Monday evening in a case related to an “objectionable tweet” he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity.

While being investigated, Zubair told authorities that he had lost the phone he used to post the alleged tweet in 2018. Police have also claimed that Zubair joined the probe but did not cooperate and various material from his phone was deleted.

When asked by officials, Zubair agreed on posing the tweet but did not specify any reason for doing so.

Meanwhile, Zubair's counsel earlier told the court that the photo which he had used in the tweet was from a Hindi film of 1983 by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, "Kissi Se Na Kehna", and that the film was not banned.

FIR was registered against Zubair on June 20. "During social media monitoring, it came to notice that a Twitter handle namely Hanuman Bhakt @balajikijaiiin shared a tweet against another Twitter handle in the name of Mohammed Zubair@zoo_bear in which it has been tweeted by Zubair that 'Before 2014: Honeymoon Hotel. After 2014: Hanuman Hotel' and has shown a picture of a sign board of one hotel name 'Honeymoon Hotel' changed to 'Hanuman Hotel'," the FIR read.

"These words and picture found to be used by Zubair against a particular religious community and are highly provocative and more than sufficient to incite feeling of hatred amongst people which can be detrimental for maintenance of public tranquility in the society," the FIR stated further.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police have also claimed that Zubair allegedly "used controversial tweets to hurt religious feelings in an effort to get fame".