A day after a scuffle between the Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh Police during an attempt to arrest TV news anchor Rohit Ranjan, policemen from Raipur on Wednesday went to his house again on Wednesday and found that he had absconded after securing bail.
Ranjan is accused of playing a doctored clip of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
On Tuesday, the Chhattisgarh Police reached Zee News anchor Ranjan's home in Indirapuram near Delhi. He was instead arrested by the police in Noida which released him on bail.
Raipur's Senior Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal said: “Our police team reached Ranjan's house in Ghaziabad around 9 am again on Wednesday but his house was locked. The team is trying to trace his whereabouts,” he said.
“The police in Noida, who released him on bail, should have informed us as our team had gone to Sector 20 police station in Noida on Tuesday. They did not tell us anything about him and on Tuesday evening released a press note stating he has been released on bail. Now, he is absconding,” the official said.
A statement issued by the Uttar Pradesh Police said: "Rohit Ranjan was brought from his residence in Indirapuram for questioning in the case lodged under IPC section 505 (2) --. for making statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes.
"After interrogation, he was arrested on the basis of evidence. He has been released on bail as the sections against him are bailable offences. Further investigation is underway,” the statement said.
A case was registered against Ranjan and others on Sunday at Civil Lines Police station in Raipur for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups and hurting the religious feelings of people, based on a complaint by Congress MLA Devendra Yadav, Agrawal said.
In his complaint, Yadav alleged that a video, in which Rahul Gandhi called those attacking his Wayanad office as children and he had no ill-will against them, was twisted by the TV channel to suggest Gandhi was forgiving the killers of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal.
Yadav, who represents Bhilai Nagar in Chhattisgarh, accused the director and chairman of the news channel of conspiring to spread fabricated and fake news against Gandhi in a bid to incite communal riots.
Ranjan and others were booked under various IPC sections including forgery as well as deliberate and malicious acts, the officer said.
The SSP had on Tuesday claimed that the police in Noida obstructed Ranjan's arrest by taking him away with them.
On July 2, a day after the video was aired, Ranjan apologized for mistakenly playing Gandhi's statement out of context by linking it with the Udaipur murder.
"It was a human error for which our team is apologetic. We apologize for it," he had tweeted.
An FIR has also been lodged in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district against five BJP leaders, including three MPs and one MLA, in connection with Gandhi's doctored video.