Anti-CAA activist Sharjeel Imam remanded to 5-day custody of Delhi Police

Sharjeel Imam, however, evaded most of the questions, according to sources and said that his mobile phone has been seized for investigation.

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday remanded JNU student and anti-CAA activist Sharjeel Imam, who was arrested from Bihar for allegedly giving inflammatory speeches, to 5-day custody of Delhi Police Crime Branch. Imam was earlier produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House courts, at his residence.

"Due to security reasons, Imam was produced before the CMM Patiala House court`s residence," a senior officer of Delhi Police Crime Branch said. Imam was earlier subjected to a medical check-up before being taken to the magistrate's residence.

Earlier in the day, Imam was brought to Delhi from Patna on transit remand after he spent the night in a police lock-up there. Delhi Police, which arrested Imam from Bihar`s Jehanabad as he was about to escape from there on Tuesday and brought him to Patna, also questioned him in the lock-up. 

Sharjeel Imam, however, evaded most of the questions, according to sources and claimed that his mobile phone has been seized for investigation.

Imam had been booked for sedition on January 26 after a video of his objectionable comments on Assam, shot on January 25 in Delhi, went viral on social media. A case was registered against Imam under IPC sections 124 A (an offence by words, either spoken or written cause disaffection against Government established by law), 153 A (promoting enmity between different religious groups with an intent to create disharmony) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) by the Delhi Police on January 26.

Apart from Delhi, the police of five states including Bihar, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Manipur had booked Sharjeel under the relevant sections of the IPC.

On January 27, a team of central probe agency conducted raids at the ancestral home of Imam in Jehanabad when they picked up his younger brother. His brother was detained and questioned at the Kako police station in Jehanabad, said reports.

The video of Imam's speech was released by BJP on January 25 and in the video, he can be heard telling a small crowd that Muslims must get united and cut Assam from the rest of India.

In a series of videos that went viral on social media, Imam can be heard saying, "If we all come together, then we can separate the Northeast from India. If we cannot do it permanently, then at least for 1-2 months we can do this. It will take the administration at least one month to disperse all of them." "It is our responsibility to cut Assam from India. When this will happen, only then the Centre will listen to us," he further said in the videos.

Imam was once an active volunteer at the Shaheen Bagh protest site but he ended his association with Shaheen Bagh protest on January 2 after the protesters refused to accept his call to end the ongoing anti-CAA protest.