Four Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers who allegedly breached the security ring and entered Bharat Mandapam during the AI Impact Summit on Friday raised “anti-national” slogans and tried to harm the “prestige” of India, the Delhi Police told a Delhi court on Saturday while seeking custody of the arrested men.
“… Some other people fled… We need their custody to trace the rest,” said Public Prosecutor (PP) Atul Kumar Srivastava while seeking five-day remand.
“This happened in front of foreign delegates… It was said that India was compromised in front of the USA. The prestige of our country was being harmed. They must know the repercussions of such an act. They also assaulted police personnel,” he added.
Judicial Magistrate First Class Ravi, of Patiala House Court, later granted five-day police custody.
According to police, the four men arrested, who were produced before the Patiala House Court, were allegedly wearing T-shirts with the Prime Minister’s picture printed on them, which they had concealed under their jackets and sweaters. They had allegedly removed the upper layer of clothing after entering the AI Expo Hall inside the venue.
Police had arrested Krishna Hari, National Secretary of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), and a resident of Bihar; Kundan Yadav, also from Bihar; Ajay Kumar; and Narasimha Yadav, National Coordinator of the IYC on Friday shortly after the incident.
The incident occurred at 12.30 pm on Friday, when a group of six-eight men wearing jackets and sweaters entered Hall Number 7.
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“It can be seen that ‘Gen Z’ reference was made… this is associated with Nepal protests. We need to recover their mobile phones and ascertain funding. All four accused are from different places… we need to find out how they conspired together and how this got printed on their T-shirts,” the PP said.
On the other hand, the counsel of the accused argued that protesting was a fundamental right and that all the alleged offences against the accused had a maximum punishment of below seven years.
“They’re degree holders. All they were doing was protesting. Bail is the rule, jail is the exception. All the offences on them have a punishment of less than seven years,” the defence counsel said.
“Protest is a fundamental right. Politicians also protest in Parliament. Will you arrest Parliamentarians then? This shows the intention of the police… they’re trying to set an example. Dissent can’t be crushed like this,” he added.
Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023.
Professional Background
Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University.
Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories.
Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts.
Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials.
Recent notable articles
In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories.
1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the “cannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.
2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation.
3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police.
Signature Style
Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public.
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