Delhi riots: Sharjeel Imam was desperate to take anti-CAA protests to all India level, says Delhi Police

A fresh chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police against JNU scholar Sharjeel Imam, who was arrested under sedition charges for his alleged inflammatory speeches, has claimed that he "was desperate to take the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests to an all India level" and was making rigorous efforts in order to do the same.

As per his statements, Imam was in touch with one of the members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) who suggested him to protest as a member of PFI, the chargesheet has claimed.

"The accused was very desperate to take the protests that level where the leaders of the protestors take the control of the mob in their own hand," the chargesheet said, while adding that Imam not only mobilized one of the communities but also set the stage for disruptive 'Chakka Jam' across Delhi and other parts of the country.

As per Imam's statements and the analysis of his call detail records, it came to light that he had visited the protest sites in Seelampur and Khureji.

The same was also corroborated through a WhatsApp chat which further pointed out to his alleged role in spreading "misinformation in the North-East district by taking the help of local Imams of local Masjids."

The chargesheet further alleges that Imam and his group had identified various mosques and assigned the task of distribution of pamphlets in these mosques to certain individuals in order to mobilize the Muslim mass in large numbers in the garb of protesting against the CAA.

It was also alleged that Imam along with one Mohd. Kasif distributed the pamphlets at a mosque in Delhi`s Nizamuddin area and several other places.

The documents further state that Imam in a WhatsApp chat had admitted that he had drafted the pamphlets and later distributed the same.

The fresh chargesheet was filed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in a case related to delivering seditious speeches against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.

It was also filed under Sections 124A (Sedition), 153(A) (Promoting enmity), 153 (B) (Assertion prejudicial to national integration), 505 (spreading rumours) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

On August 25, the Delhi Police Special Cell arrested Imam in a separate case relating to the Delhi riots under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPA).

He was brought back to the capital from Assam two days earlier on a production warrant.

Next day, a Delhi court sent him to four-day police custody.

Imam had come into the limelight for his alleged inflammatory speech at Jamia Millia Islamia on December 13 and subsequently on January 16 at Aligarh Muslim University, where he allegedly threatened to "cut off" Assam and the rest of the Northeast from India.

Imam had backed his statements by insisting that Muslims in Assam are already being put in detention centres owing to the NRC already having been applied there. "We may come to know in 6-8 months that all Bengalis, irrespective of Hindus or Muslims, have been killed," Imam had said, adding, "It is our responsibility to cut Assam from India. When this will happen, only then the Centre will listen to us."