Sharjeel spent sleepless night in Patna police lockup

Patna: Self-proclaimed JNU student leader Sharjeel Imam who was sent to a five-day crime branch custody on Wednesday in a hate speech case spent a sleepless night in a police station in Patna where he was locked up after being arrested from Kako in Bihar’s Jehanabad district.

Amid tight security, Sharjeel was kept at a Mahila police station in the Bihar capital. According to sources, Sharjeel was served bread, lentils and green vegetables for dinner but ate only a little. He could not sleep well at night and drank water and tea several times.

Sources said even as police interrogated him a few times, he did not answer most of the questions. Police have also examined his mobile phone.

Sharjeel was arrested by the police from Kako police station area of Jehanabad on Tuesday.

The police had presented him in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Jehanabad, from where he was taken to Delhi via Patna after getting a transit remand.

Sources say that Sharjeel was caught on Tuesday afternoon when he was trying to flee in a car.

A raid was conducted by the crime branch of Delhi Police on Monday night in Kako, the ancestral residence of Sharjeel, following which his brother Muzammil Imam was detained.

Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi Police had filed cases against Sharjeel under various sections including sedition, even since he went missing.

The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police registered a case on Sunday against Sharjeel for delivering a provocative speech on January 13 — the video of which went viral on January 25. Delhi Police also conducted searches at various places to nab him.

In a video, he is seen talking about splitting the northeast from India to block the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). “We know how Muslims are being treated in Assam. We have to save people from the NRC. The only way to do this is by cutting off northeast from India.”

IANS