‘They are part of core planning team of shirtless protest’: Delhi Police get 3-day custody of Youth Congress workers picked up in Himachal

“They were hiding in a resort in Himachal Pradesh… they were well aware that their colleagues had been arrested and they were in hiding,” Public Prosecutor Atul Kumar Srivastava submitted before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Mridul Gupta, seeking five-day custody of the accused.

He added that while Siddharth had been involved in designing and printing the pictures on the T-shirts that were worn by the protesters, Saurabh had created a WhatsApp group to allegedly plan the protest. Saurabh and Arbaaz, meanwhile, were present during the protest, Srivastava said.

“They are part of the core planning team. Their custody is required to identify others and senior functionaries. They have to identify the printing press and are to be confronted with other accused persons,” he added.

Defense counsel Roopesh Singh Bhadauria, meanwhile, called the police action a “witch hunt”. “Everything is documented… CCTV footage are making rounds. Siddharth was not there. This is just a witch hunt… They were protesting…the t-shirts have been recovered,” he said.

“…there are no fresh grounds for arrest. There are no bodily crimes, it was a peaceful protest, everything has been procured… no police official was hurt there,” argued Bhadauria.
“It is a political targeting of a youth wing of a major Opposition party… This is just trying to set an example for other parties as well,” he added.

“It is a matter of grave concern that no recovery whatsoever has been effected… Shockingly, a bare perusal of the FIR reveals the mechanical reproduction of the very same phrase “Tukde-Tukde” that was infamously invoked in the JNU controversy. This raises serious questions about the independence and bona fides of the investigation,” Bhadauria further said.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Mridul Gupta said the three need to be produced before court on completion of their police remand on March 1.

The court also extended the police remand by three days of two other accused, Ajay Kumar and Raja Gujar, arrested earlier and produced in court on Thursday on completion of their three-day police custody.

Around 12.30 pm last Friday, a group of men had entered Hall 7 of the summit at Bharat Mandapam wearing jackets and sweaters. Underneath, they were wearing T-shirts with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s picture printed on them. They allegedly removed the jackets and sweaters and started raising “anti-national” slogans at the hall. So far, 11 people have been arrested in the case.

Police have alleged that the incident was not spontaneous but executed after prior planning and that their initial probe has revealed structured allocation of roles, concealment tactics and coordinated post-incident movement. They have also claimed that the entire conspiracy, including its hierarchy, funding and inter-state coordination, needed to be unearthed.