Chhattisgarh Cops Stay Put In NCR, Visit Zee News Anchor's House to Arrest Him

However, the Raipur police found that Ranjan had been 'absconding' and his house was locked.

Chhattisgarh police on Wednesday found that Ranjan had been absconding. His house was locked, the Raipur police said in a tweet written in Hindi.

(Photo: Twitter/Raipur Police)

A day after Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh police engaged in an argument to secure the custody of Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan for publishing doctored video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, a team of Chhattisgarh Police again visited Ranjan's Ghaziabad residence on the morning of Wednesday, 6 July, to arrest him.

However, the police found that Ranjan had been absconding. His house was locked, the Raipur police said in a tweet written in Hindi.

"The police team reached the residence of the accused Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan in Ghaziabad at around 9 am today. The absconding panchnama of the accused has been prepared after the house is locked and the accused is found absconding. Tracing of the accused is being done in other possible places also," Raipur police said.

For a second consecutive day on Wednesday, the police continue to stay put in the National Capital Region (NCR), looking for Ranjan.

The state's police have claimed that their counterparts in Noida and Ghaziabad were not sharing with them the details regarding the whereabouts of Ranjan.

“The Chhattisgarh Police team reached the TV anchor’s home in the Indirapuram area of Ghaziabad again on Wednesday morning but he was not there. The team is expected to go to his office in Noida Film City later in the day,” PTI reported quoting a source who was privy to the probe.

Meanwhile, alleging that the Uttar Pradesh police was "protecting" Ranjan from being arrested by the Chhattisgarh police, members of the Congress had on Tuesday protested outside the Noida Sector 20 Police Station.

Background

Amid high drama which also involved the local Ghaziabad police, a team from Raipur police reached Ranjan's Ghaziabad residence on Tuesday morning with an arrest warrant. However, he was taken into custody by the Noida police.

A case had been filed against Ranjan at Noida Sector-20 police station. Ranjan was later let off on bail the same day.

On the basis of a complaint filed by Congress MLA Devendra Yadav at Raipur's Civil Lines police station, Ranjan has been booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including Section 153-A (Promoting Enmity on Grounds of Religion or Race), Section 295-A (Malicious Acts Intending to Hurt Religious Beliefs), Section 504 (Intentional Insult), and Section 505 (1)(b) (Intent to Cause Fear or Alarm to Public).

On 2 July, Ranjan allegedly misquoted Gandhi’s video statement regarding the vandalisation of his Wayanad office and linked it with the Udaipur tailor's murder. He later issued a televised apology for the same.

He tweeted, "Yesterday, in our show DNA, Rahul Gandhi's statement was taken in the wrong context by linking it to the Udaipur incident, it was a human error for which our team is apologetic and we apologise for it."

However, the video was used by several people, including BJP leaders, to attack Gandhi and the Congress party after the 28 June's murder in Udaipur.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Wednesday, agreed to hear Ranjan's plea seeking urgent hearing in the matter. The case has been listed for hearing on Thursday, 7 July.

Cases related to Gandhi's doctored video were also filed in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

(With inputs from PTI.)