Rahul Gandhi video: Chhattisgarh Police summon news anchor Rohit Ranjan to Raipur for probe

The Chhattisgarh Police have summoned Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan and some of his colleagues to probe into allegations of airing a doctored video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi officials said on WednesdayA team of the Chhattisgarh Police on Wednesday stayed put in the national capital region for a second day as it continued its search with an arrest warrant for Zee News anchor Rohit RanjanThe visiting policemen went to the TV anchors home in Ghaziabad in the morning and later to his office in Noida Film City the officials saidA notice was pasted outside the home of the absconding Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan while summons have been issued to his colleagues in the office They have been asked to come to Raipur now on July 12 to get their statement recorded in connection with our probe a visiting Chhattisgarh police official told PTI requesting anonymity The Chhattisgarh police team also informed the local Indirapuram police station in Ghaziabad in the morning and later went to the SSP office to lodge a complaint related to their probe the official saidIn Noida the visitors once again went to the Sector 20 police station to seek information like the FIR copy and whereabouts of Ranjan but claimed that they did not get any helpMeanwhile the Noida police also went to the Zee News office on Wednesday afternoon shortly after their Chhattisgarh counterparts reached thereWe came here in view of the law and order situation because there was information about a protest by local Congress workers Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Noida Ranvijay Singh told reporters outside the Zee officeHowever no protest or demonstration took place thereOn allegations of noncooperation by Chhattisgarh cops Singh strongly refuted all chargesThey had come to arrest someone from Ghaziabad should have coordinated with the local cops The Noida police is not bound to give them any information he saidIf they write to us or contact us for any matter as per procedures we will talk to them Singh said However the Chhattisgarh Police team claimed they have been running pillar to post in Noida for cooperation but to no availThe 11member police team led by DSP Udayan Behar from Raipur had reached the Ghaziabad home of the TV anchor on Tuesday morning but he was taken into custody by the Noida police amid a high drama also involving the local Ghaziabad policemenOn Tuesday night the Noida police said they had released Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan on bail after questioning him They said Ranjan was arrested on the basis of evidence in a case lodged by it under IPC Section 505 2 statements creating or promoting enmity hatred or ill will between classesHowever the visiting Chhattisgarh Police officials claimed that their counterparts in Noida and Ghaziabad were not sharing any information regarding the whereabouts of Ranjan with them despite an arrest warrant and a court orderCongress workers in Noida on Tuesday staged a protest outside the Sector 20 police station and claimed that the Uttar Pradesh Police was protecting the TV anchor from being arrested by the Chhattisgarh PoliceThe FIR in Raipur was lodged under IPC Sections 153A promoting enmity between different groups 295A deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class 467 forgery 469 forgery to harm reputation and 504 intentional insultOn July 2 a day after the video was aired Ranjan apologised for mistakenly playing Gandhis statement on vandalisation of his Wayanad office out of context by linking it with the Udaipur murder caseIt was a human error for which our team is apologetic We apologise for it he had tweeted in HindiHowever the video was used by several people including BJP leaders to attack Gandhi and the Congress party after the Udaipur murder on June 28The assailants in Udaipur purportedly admitted their crime in a video clip saying it was meant to avenge an insult to IslamFIRs have been lodged in Chhattisgarhs Bilaspur and Raipur in Uttar Pradeshs Noida and in Rajasthan in connection with Gandhis doctored videoCongress legislator Yadav whose FIR in Raipur led to the Chhattisgarh Police action has also accused the director and chairman of Zee News and its chief executive officer for conspiring to spread fabricated and fake news against Gandhi in a bid to incite communal riots and disturb social harmony a police official saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever