The Delhi Police officers involved in questioning Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, the two JNU students arrested on the charges of sedition, are having a tough time cracking the duo with the former denying his involvement in any sloganeering and the latter challenging claims that the slogans were “anti-national.”
Senior Delhi Police officials who interrogated the duo refused to divulge the details citing the Delhi High Court’s order to maintain utmost secrecy.
The duo, along with three other students, gave a hard time to police as they searched for them across cities for over 10 days. They resurfaced on the varsity’s campus late on Tuesday night and thereafter Khalid and Anirban surrendered to police.
The Delhi Police after getting the production warrant of JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar for one day of police custody will question the three together.
A police source said Umar and Anirban were interrogated by two separate teams led by ACP rank officials. The duo was quizzed about the slogans raised during the February 9 event at JNU and the identities of others involved in the controversial event.
Police are also asking them what they had done as the “main organisers” to stop the raising of the alleged anti- India slogans during the protest against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, the source said.
“While Khalid maintained that he did not engage in any sloganeering, Anirban asked the investigators how the nature of slogans was anti-national at all,” the source said.
While Khalid has told police he was in Ghaziabad after the event, Anirban’s whereabouts during the period are still unclear, the source said.