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Was fact-checker Zubair arrested for being evasive, uncooperative?

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Alt news’ co-founder Mohammed Zubair was arrested as he was not at all being cooperative with the police in the investigation of a case registered against him, a senior Delhi Police official said on Tuesday.

Zubair came into major limelight after he posted BJP’s now suspended spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s controversial comment on Prophet Mohammed. He was arrested on Monday for his objectionable tweets which he posted in 2018.

After his arrest, the police said he was not cooperating with the investigation. “We had served him a notice under section 41 A of the CrPc, but he was evasive and not cooperating in the investigation,” the official told IANS.

The official said that Zubair was “evasive on the questions” and neither provided the necessary technical equipment for the purpose of the investigation nor cooperated in the investigation.

“During investigation, the conduct of Mohammed Zubair was found questionable, which warranted his custodial interrogation to unravel the conspiracy in this matter,” the official added.

The section 41 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure deals with the notice of appearance before police officers.

Under this, the police officer shall, in all cases where the arrest of a person is not required, issue a notice directing the person against whom a reasonable complaint has been made, or credible information has been received, or a reasonable suspicion exists that he has committed a cognizable offence, to appear before him or at such other place as may be specified in the notice.

When such a notice is issued to any person, it shall be the duty of that person to comply with the terms of the notice. When such person complies and continues to comply with the notice, he shall not be arrested in respect of the offence referred to in the notice unless, for reasons to be recorded, the police officer is of the opinion that he ought to be arrested.

And when the person being questioned is not cooperative, the law says that if such person, at any time, fails to comply with the terms of the notice or is unwilling to identify himself, the police officer may, subject to such orders as may have been passed by a competent court in this behalf, arrest him for the offence mentioned in the notice.

The official said that the counsel for the accused Mohammed Zubair moved application for grant of bail, however, the same was heard at length and not finding the merits, the bail was ultimately declined.

The 33-year-old fact-checker is currently under police custody and is being interrogated over one of his objectionable tweets which he posted in 2018. After Zubair’s tweet, his followers on social media entities amplified and created a series of debates and hate mongering in the thread.

“He was examined in this separate case and his role was found objectionable,” the official said.

The police have charged Zubair with Indian Penal Code sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).

Sources told IANS that the tweet for which Zubair is being questioned is 4 years old. In the said tweet, accused Zubair had used a screengrab of an old Hindi movie which showed an image of a hotel, with its board reading ‘Hanuman hotel’ instead of ‘Honeymoon hotel’.

In his tweet, Zubair had written, “BEFORE 2014: Honeymoon Hotel. After 2014: Hanuman Hotel”.

Meanwhile, the Opposition left no chance to train guns at the present dispensation and accused them of curbing free speech and targeting those who are exposing the BJP.

“Every person exposing BJP’s hate, bigotry and lies is a threat to them. Arresting one voice of truth will only give rise to a thousand more. Truth ALWAYS triumphs over tyranny,” tweeted Rahul Gandhi soon after the news of fact-checker’s arrest broke out.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that Altnews and Zubair have been in the forefront of exposing the “bogus claims of the Vishguru”, who has struck back with a vengeance characteristic of him. “Delhi Police, reporting to the Union Home Minister, has long lost any pretensions of professionalism and independence,” he said.

Pertinent to mention here that Zubair was the first person to share former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nupur Sharma’s alleged remarks against Prophet Mohammed during a TV debate.

The controversial statement made by Nupur Sharma set off an international furore. Several Muslim nations, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Indonesia and Iran, as well as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation officially protested their statements and demanded an apology.

Following the uproar, the Bharatiya Janata Party suspended Sharma and another leader, Naveen Kumar Jindal, who also made insulting comments against Prophet Muhammad on social media.

However, soon after her comments, Sharma was targeted on social media and received thousands of death threats following which the police provided a security cover to her.

She had lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police on May 27 alleging that she had been receiving death threats and was a target of hatred.

Crime

Mumbai Cyber ​​fraud in the name of online gaming, cricket betting and casino busted, five women also involved in interstate racket, transactions worth over Rs 25 crore

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The Mumbai police have busted a gang involved in cyber crime cases, which was involved in fraud through multiple apps, including a gaming app.The Dongri police had registered a case under sections 319(4), 317, 3(5) of the Indian Penal Code, 2023 and sections 66(k), 66(d) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The investigation, carried out under a plan based on reliable and confidential information received by the Dongri Police Station Cyber ​​Team, has uncovered an organised network providing mule bank accounts for cyber fraud.

During the investigation, it was revealed that bank accounts were opened in the names of the victims of financial fraud by luring them with profit and the passbooks, debit cards, cheque books, SIM cards, etc. of these accounts were taken into their possession and used for financial transactions of cyber fraud. The scope of the investigation was also expanded to Govindi, Mankhurd, Dongri areas of Mumbai as well as Belapur, Panvel and Osmanabad in Navi Mumbai.

Based on confidential information, a total of 03 accused were arrested during the investigation, who were identified as Nikhil Kamal Kumar Jaswani, age 28, Papriya, Hoshangabad district, Madhya Pradesh, Rahul Shyamalal Parwani, age 32, Madhya Pradesh, Jay Biharilal Tirthani, age 26, Katni, Madhya Pradesh. Apart from this, a total of 05 wanted accused have been found in the investigation so far and Their search is on. Among them, 03 women have been issued notices under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Naya Samhita.

Their names are Jyoti Patil Jaya Donge Nisha Donge, residents of Lallubhai Compound, Mankhurd. During the investigation, 42 bank passbooks, 70 debit cards, 36 SIM cards, 23 mobile phones, 03 laptops, 09 tabs, 12 bank kits, 01 motor car have been seized from the arrested accused so far. A total of approximately ₹40 lakh worth of property has been seized. Technical analysis of the information contained in the seized digital devices is being done, which is likely to reveal more individuals and transactions related to this network. 28 cyber crimes/complaints revealed from 17 bank accounts out of the total 990 bank accounts seized during the investigation. So far, information of 17 bank accounts out of the 990 bank accounts seized has been obtained from the respective banks.

After investigating the financial transactions in these accounts, available technical information and cyber crimes/complaints registered in various states, it was found that 28 cyber crime suspects registered in various states across the country are associated with these accounts. Investigation of the remaining accounts is likely to reveal more crimes, suspicious financial transactions and networks of related individuals.

The following cyber crimes are also registered against them in several states including
1) Maharashtra-02, including Nairopolis Police Station, Thane District-01, Khadeshwar Police Station, Thane, Navi Mumbai-09
2) Karnataka-09
3) Telangana-06
4) Delhi-02
5) Madhya Pradesh-02
6) Uttar Pradesh-05
7) Kerala-02
8) Tamil Nadu-02
9) Gujarat-02
10) Jammu and Kashmir-01
11) West Bengal-03 Due to this, the investigation of this crime registered in Dongri Police Station has not been limited to Mumbai only but has reached various states of the country.
Financial transactions worth Rs 254.9 crore


According to initial information, financial transactions worth about Rs 254.9 crore have taken place in the 17 bank accounts concerned in a period of one and a half to two months. An in-depth financial investigation is underway to ascertain the source of the money, direction of the transaction, beneficiary accounts, related persons and its link to cybercrimes. Effective action by Dongri Cyber ​​Team against cyber criminals With an effective combination of intelligence gathering, technical investigation, tracing of bank transactions, analysis of digital evidence and direct action, Dongri Cyber ​​Team has taken effective action against an international network misusing mobile bank accounts for cyber fraud. This action has helped significantly in tracing the chain of financial transactions in cyber fraud and exposing the interrelationship of related crimes in different parts of the country.


Important appeal to citizens; Citizens should not give their bank account, passbook, debit card, cheque book, SIM card, mobile phone, OTP, PIN or internet banking information to others for use by anyone. If you notice suspicious transactions in your bank account, immediately contact the concerned bank and inform the police. This information was given by Mumbai DCP Manish Kalwane at a press conference held in Dongri today. This operation was carried out by ACP Tanveer Sheikh and Dongri Senior Police Inspector under the guidance of Mumbai Police Commissioner Devin Bharti.

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Crime

Mumbai: Bank manager arrested for defrauding NRI elderly citizen by stealing gold from bank locker in Kandivali area

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The police have claimed to have arrested a bank manager who stole gold from a NRI bank in Mumbai’s Kandivali area. According to details, on August 12, 2026, Pradeep Motiram Bhatia, age 74 years, profession retired, address: Flat No. 512, Oha Metha Road, Dubai. 602 Jyoti Park, Ambawadi, Kandivali (West), Mumbai in India filed a complaint at Kandivali Police Station. The details of the complaint are that the complainant has been residing in Dubai with his family for the last 52 years.


On 22nd March 2024 at 3:00 PM, the complainant had deposited various gold ornaments weighing 610 grams and worth ₹81,80,000/- in a locker at IndusInd Bank, MG Road, Kandivali (West), Mumbai, for safekeeping and returned to Dubai. After about 2 years, Bhatia came to the bank to collect his ornaments. At that time, he found that all the ornaments had been removed from his locker. In this regard, a case was registered at Kandivali Police Station under Section 316(5) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) No. 1095/2026.


Since the offence had been committed for about 2 years, there were difficulties in obtaining CCTV footage and other technical investigation. Information was taken about the bank staff at that time and the procedure for allotment of lockers. The bank account details of the then Assistant Branch Manager of IndusInd Bank, Kuldeep Ramchand Sahani, aged 35, Room No. 1389, Santosh Nagar, Shri Krishna Nagar, Goregaon East, near Gurukul School, Mumbai, were obtained. In this, financial transactions worth Rs. 9 crore were found in his bank account in about 2 years. These included large-scale transactions with gold-broking companies.


After checking all his transactions, he obtained photographs of the gold ornaments mortgaged from the mortgage companies and got the complainant to confirm. When it was proved that these ornaments belonged to him, the accused was immediately arrested and the fraud committed against the complainant was exposed by confiscating 610 grams of gold weighing 610 grams and worth ₹81,80,000/- from the complainant’s belongings within 4 days. This was informed by DCP Sandeep Goge in a press conference today.

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Crime

Kolkata building fire: Leaseholder of one of nine hotels arrested, two detained

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Kolkata: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Kolkata Police probing the fire incident at a multi-storey building on Mirza Ghalib Street in Central Kolkata, which claimed nine lives, has arrested one person, said officials on Thursday.

Each floor of the said building had separate hotels or guesthouses, and the source of the fire was one such hotel, “Shikha Inn”. The person arrested by the city police this morning has been identified as Abu Zafar, who had taken the hotel on lease from the original owner, Bireshwar Mitra.

Zafar was arrested from his residence in Jorasanko, North Kolkata. He will be presented at a city court later in the day, and the public prosecutor will seek his police custody.

Mitra, the original owner of the hotel, is still absconding. Besides arresting Zafra, the members of the SIT have detained two other persons, reportedly staff of the hotel, for questioning. However, the city police are yet to disclose their identities.

The State Fire Services Department has issued show-cause notices to nine other hotels and four restaurants on Mirza Ghalib Street for non-compliance with safety regulations. They have been asked to respond within the next 24 hours.

The five-storey building on Mirza Ghalib Street housed multiple hotels and guesthouses, with each having shacks. Hotel ‘Shikha Inn’ was on the third floor of the same building, covering an area of ​​1,100 square feet.

There had been numerous allegations of irregularities at this hotel. The hotel caught fire late Tuesday night. Nine people lost their lives in the fire.

The West Bengal government has announced a detailed special audit of all hotels, lodges and guesthouses in the Mirza Ghalib Street area following the incident.

The New Market Police Station, under whose jurisdiction the building falls, has registered a suo motu case. The State Fire Services Department has also lodged a separate complaint.

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