JNU row: cops grill photocopy shop owner

The Delhi Police's Special Cell on Monday questioned the owner of a photocopy shop in connection with the controversial events which led to the arrest of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and two others on a sedition charge.

The photocopy outlet is located in south Delhi's Ber Sarai area and the owner is believed to have made copies of the posters of the 9 February event. He was taken to Special Cell's office on Lodhi Road and questioned for several hours, a police source said.

Earlier in the day, police custody of JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, so far identified as the main organisers of the event, was extended for a day by a city court. They were later transferred to the office of Special Cell which is now looking into the matter.

The photocopy shop owner was reportedly questioned and confronted with Khalid and Anirban in order to ascertain the identities of all those involved in organising the event at which "anti-national" slogans were raised.

The sleuths have also questioned another JNU student Ashutosh, who is Kanhaiya Kumar's predecessor as JNUSU president, twice in connection with the event. He has been summoned to Special Cell's office again on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the agitating students of JNU on Monday alleged that the photocopy shops in the campus are refusing to print any posters that have not been "verified" by the administration.

The campus photocopy shop owners claim that it is due to the "fear factor" that they are refusing to print posters of protests, but the students alleged that the varsity administration has instructed them to do so, a charge denied by JNU Registrar Bhupinder Zutshi.

The students alleged that the response of the photocopy shop owners on the campus is a fallout of the police questioning those running these outlets in nearby Ber Sarai market.

A Delhi court on Monday allowed the custodial interrogation Khalid and Bhattacharya, arrested in the sedition case, by one more day. The court extended the police custody of the duo after police contended that they were required for further probe in the case to unearth the larger conspiracy.

According to the police sources, the anti-terror unit of Delhi police, Special Cell needed some time to interrogate both the accused. Police has claimed that around 22 people present at the flashpoint JNU event, including some outsiders, have been identified after the joint interrogation of Khalid, Anirban and Kanhaiya Kumar.

(See: JNU row: HC comes down hard on Delhi Cops)