News anchor 'absconding', claim police; SC to hear bail plea today
New Delhi/Raipur: A day after a face-off between Chhattisgarh police and their Uttar Pradesh counterparts to arrest TV news anchor Rohit Ranjan for playing a doctored clip of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, a team of Raipur cops went to his house in Ghaziabad again on Wednesday, but he was not found there, a senior official said.
"Ranjan is absconding and efforts are on to trace him," Raipur's Senior Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal said.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court agreed to hear on Thursday the plea of a TV news anchor seeking protection from coercive action for the alleged offence.
List it tomorrow, a vacation bench of justices Indira Banerjee and J K Maheswari said on Wednesday when senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the TV anchor, sought an urgent hearing of the plea in view of the registration of several FIRs against him in many states for telecast of the clip.
Earlier, the Raipur district police from the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh had gone to Zee News anchor Ranjan's home in Indirapuram area near Delhi on Tuesday early morning, but he was instead arrested by the Noida police who released him on bail later in the night.
A Raipur police team reached Ranjan's house in Ghaziabad around 9 am again on Wednesday, but his house was found locked from outside. The team is trying to trace his whereabouts, Agrawal.
The Noida police, who released him on bail, should have informed the Raipur police, as the team had gone to Sector-20 police station (in Noida) on Tuesday, asking for the whereabouts of the accused. They did not tell us anything about him and late Tuesday evening released a press note stating that he is released on bail. Now, he is absconding, the official claimed.
A statement issued by the Gautam Budh Nagar police in the BJP-governed UP stated, "Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan was brought to Noida from his residence in Indirapuram for questioning in the case lodged under IPC's section 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes)."
"After interrogation, he was arrested on the basis of evidence. He has been released on bail as the sections against him are bailable offences. Further investigation in the case is underway, the statement said.
A case was registered against Ranjan and others at Zee News on Sunday at Civil Lines Police station in Chhattisgarh's capital Raipur for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups and outraging religious feelings of people, based on a complaint by Congress MLA Devendra Yadav, Agrawal said.
