Sharjeel Imam's police custody extended

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday extended the police custody of JNU student Sharjeel Imam by three days in a sedition case registered by the Delhi Police over his remarks calling for North-Eastern India to be "cut-off" from India, for which he was arrested from Bihar a week ago.

The Crime Branch had approached the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Purushottam Pathak, who heard the matter at his residents, where Imam was also produced amid high security, according to his defence counsel Mishika Singh.

Imam was arrested from Bihar's Jehanabad on January 28 for allegedly making inflammatory speeches at the Jamia Millia Islamia University here and in Aligarh. He was brought to Delhi the next day. The court had earlier sent Imam to five-day police custody.

The Crime Branch had registered a sedition case against him on January 26 for delivering a provocative speech on January 13 after its video went viral. Subsequently, he went into hiding and the police launched a manhunt to nab him. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh also followed the suit and filed cases against him.

(with agencies input)