Sharjeel Imam, a research scholar of Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) arrested in a sedition case, admitted during interrogation that the videos of his speeches were genuine and not tampered with, officials told news.
Sharjeel Imam was arrested from his hometown in Bihar's Jehenabad on Tuesday. A spate of police cases were registered against him after a video of him allegedly making anti-national comments was widely circulated online.
He is being questioned by the police in connection with his alleged speeches at the Jamia Millia Islamia Universitye in Delhi and in Aligarh, they said.
During interrogation, he admitted that the videos of his speeches were genuine, the officials said. However, all videos of his speeches have been sent to a forensic science laboratory for examination, they said.
His social media accounts and call record details are also being examined to see with whom he was in touch with, they added.
The police said they are probing if words in the speeches are Sharjeel Imam's own views or if he was representing the views of some organisation.
As part of the investigation, it is being probing if he was linked to the Islamic Youth Federation and the Popular Front of India, they said.
Sharjeel Imam was brought to Delhi on Wednesday and produced at the residence of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Purushottam Pathak in the evening amid tight security after which the police were granted his five-day custody.
The PhD scholar at the Jawaharlal Nehru University Centre for Historical Studies has been booked for sedition and other charges in several states after videos of his alleged inflammatory speeches, made during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), were circulated on the social media.
An FIR was registered against him by the Delhi Police on January 25 under IPC sections 124A (sedition) and 153A (promoting or attempting to promote disharmony or feelings of enmity on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever) among others.
