Raipur police accuses UP cops of obstructing arrest of news anchor Rohit Ranjan

Raipur: A team of Raipur police from Chhattisgarh reached Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday to arrest TV news anchor Rohit Ranjan in connection with the airing of an alleged “misleading” news over a statement of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, police officials here said.

However, the Raipur police were obstructed by their Uttar Pradesh counterparts who took Ranjan along with them, they claimed.

A case was registered against Ranjan and others of the Zee News on Sunday for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups and outraging religious feelings of people based on the complaint of Congress MLA Devendra Yadav, Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal told PTI.

A team was constituted to investigate the case and it was sent to Ghaziabad to arrest the accused, he said.

“Complying with the due process of law, the Raipur police team reached the residence of the accused in Ghaziabad this morning for execution of the warrant issued by the competent court in the case. After taking the accused into custody, the team was completing the procedure of arrest. Meanwhile, the local police (Uttar Pradesh police) forcefully took the accused along with them and obstructed the procedure despite the Raipur police showing the warrant,” Agrawal said.

MLA Yadav in his complaint alleged that on July 1, a video, in which Rahul Gandhi described those attacking his Wayanad office as children and said he had no ill-will against them, was "mischievously" used by a TV channel to suggest he was forgiving the killers of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal.

The complainant accused the director and chairman of Zee News, its Chief Executive Officer, and anchor Rohit Ranjan of conspiring to spread fabricated and fake news against Gandhi in a bid to incite communal riots and disturb social harmony, the police official said.

On Tuesday morning, Ranjan posted on his Twitter handle that “without informing the local police, Chhattisgarh Police was standing outside my house to arrest me. Is this legally correct?” The Raipur police in their reply tweeted, "There is no such rule to inform. Still, now they are informed. Police team has shown you the court's warrant of arrest. You should in fact cooperate, join in the investigation and put your defence in court."