Zee News' Rohit Ranjan arrested for airing Rahul Gandhi's 'doctored' video

High drama unfolded at the residence of ZEE TV news anchor Rohit Ranjan in Uttar Pradesh's (UP) Ghaziabad on Tuesday when a team of Raipur police from Chhattisgarh tried to arrest the journalist. The cops acted on an FIR filed against him for airing alleged 'misleading' news concerning Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

However, the Raipur police were obstructed by their UP counterparts who eventually arrested Ranjan.

A case was registered against Ranjan and others of the Zee News on Sunday for presenting Gandhi's remarks on vandalism at his office in his constituency Wayanad as his statement on the accused in the Udaipur tailor murder case.

The FIR also accused them of promoting enmity between different groups and outraging religious feelings of people. It was 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 added.

“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.

Ranjan had earlier apologised for the same.

On Tuesday morning, Ranjan tweeted, “without informing the local police, Chhattisgarh Police was standing outside my house to arrest me. Is this legally correct?”

The Raipur police responded with a tweet, “There is no such rule to inform. Still, now they are informed. The 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.”

With inputs from PTI.