Police said ‘not anonymous’ in court, now write to Twitter for details of Zubair complainant

Sources told The Indian Express a notice under Section 91 of CrPC was sent to Twitter, India, on Wednesday evening in which the investigation officer informed the website about the case.

Mohammed Zubair was arrested on June 25. (File Photo)

The Delhi Police has sent a notice to Twitter, asking them to provide details of the account @balajikijaiin that goes by the user name ‘Hanuman Bhakt’. The handle had tagged Delhi Police, asking them to take action against AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair for a tweet he had posted in 2018. The Delhi Police’s IFSO branch then filed a case against Zubair and arrested him on Monday.

Sources told The Indian Express a notice under Section 91 of CrPC was sent to Twitter, India, on Wednesday evening in which the investigation officer informed the website about the case. “We have asked them to provide IP log details of the anonymous Twitter handle @balajikijaiin, registration details of the account, mobile number, connected email ID, and device used by the user,” a police source said.

The account had been deleted on Wednesday but it was back up by Thursday evening. On Wednesday, a senior police official had told The Indian Express, “We have come to know that the person deleted his account. However, that doesn’t affect our investigation. We are investigating the matter as Zubair’s old tweet was amplified, and was creating disharmony. We are trying to trace the man and will ask him about the complaint. He must have deleted the account because he got scared.”

Also Read | AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair taken to Bengaluru home to recover devices: police

In court during Zubair’s remand hearing on Tuesday, the police had submitted that the person running the Twitter account was “not anonymous”.

Zubair’s lawyer, Vrinda Grover, while opposing the remand application before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Savaria, had argued that the Twitter account in question was an anonymous handle made to create mischief.

She had argued that the Twitter account was made to target her client and that this account user had to be investigated by the police.

While rebutting this, the Additional Public Prosecutor submitted that this was “not an anonymous Twitter handle”.

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“He is just a mere informer. He is not an anonymous complainant. His details are here. Without details, no one can get a Twitter account,” the prosecutor had argued.

Mahender Singh Manral

Mahender Singh Manral is an Assistant Editor with the national bureau of The Indian Express. He is known for his impactful and breaking stories. He covers the Ministry of Home Affairs, Investigative Agencies, National Investigative Agency, Central Bureau of Investigation, Law Enforcement Agencies, Paramilitary Forces, and internal security. Prior to this, Manral had extensively reported on city-based crime stories along with that he also covered the anti-corruption branch of the Delhi government for a decade. He is known for his knack for News and a detailed understanding of stories. He also worked with Mail Today as a senior correspondent for eleven months. He has also worked with The Pioneer for two years where he was exclusively covering crime beat. During his initial days of the career he also worked with The Statesman newspaper in the national capital, where he was entrusted with beats like crime, education, and the Delhi Jal Board. A graduate in Mass Communication, Manral is always in search of stories that impact lives. ... Read More

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