TV anchor not named in initial Noida FIR, picked up minutes after it is lodged

The news anchor arrested and released on bail over a misleading video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was initially not named an accused in the FIR lodged by Uttar Pradesh's Noida police just minutes before they reached his home in Ghaziabad.

His name was later added as the third accused in the FIR lodged at Noida Sector-20 police station under IPC section 505(2).

However, the other two accused, a senior producer and a trainee producer, who were named in the FIR initially are yet to be questioned, a Noida police officer told PTI on Wednesday.

Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan was whisked away Tuesday morning by police in BJP-run Uttar Pradesh, virtually thwarting his arrest by a team from the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh that had landed at his home a few hours earlier.

''He was picked up for questioning in connection with our investigation into the case lodged at Sector-20 police station. His name was added in the FIR later. He was arrested on the basis of evidence. But the offence was bailable so he was granted bail from the police station,'' Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Ranvijay Singh told reporters.

The FIR registered against the journalist in Chhattisgarh lists more sections of the law compared to those mentioned in the Noida FIR, lodged on the basis of a complaint by Zee Media itself.

The Noida-based television channel has blamed two producers for ''knowingly and intentionally'' using a statement by Gandhi out of context and said they have been sacked for this.

The FIR was lodged at the Noida police station at 8.33 am and the anchor picked up from Ghaziabad around 9 am, according to the official document seen by PTI.

While the police team from Raipur in Chhattisgarh reached Ranjan's Indirapuram home around 5.30 am on Tuesday, he was taken into custody first by the Ghaziabad police and then by the Noida police, which had lodged an FIR under IPC section 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill will between classes).

The FIR was registered on a complaint by V R Venkatraman, an authorised representative for Zee Media Corporation Limited (ZMCL), two days earlier.

It named senior producer Narinder Singh and trainee producer Bikash Kumar Jha as those responsible.

The complainant said Rahul Gandhi's video statement was on the vandalisation of his office in Wayanad, Kerala. But due to"oversight and inadvertence" it was presented out of context on the show, DNA, he said.

"Against the aforesaid negligence, the company conducted an internal inquiry and terminated the services of Mr. Narinder Singh and Bikash Kumar Jha, who were found responsible for the aforesaid negligence," he added.

"However, in the given circumstances , the company has a reasonable belief and suspicion that the aforesaid negligence and dereliction of duties may have been committed by Mr. Bikash Kumar Jha and Mr. Narinder Singh knowingly and intentionally in connivance with each other," the complaint said.

While his phone has been switched off since Tuesday, PTI's text messages to the TV anchor for his response remained unanswered.

The Noida police also refuted allegations of non-cooperation by their Chhattisgarh counterparts, who stayed put in the national capital region for a second day Wednesday to trace Ranjan.

The Supreme Court is set to hear on Thursday the journalist plea for protection against arrest in the case.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)