Following three First Information Reports (FIRs) registered against TV news channel News18 anchor Aman Chopra, a team of Rajasthan Police is in Uttar Pradesh's Noida to arrest him for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups and hurting religious sentiments through his show on the demolition of a temple in Alwar district’s Rajgarh.
Chopra has also been booked under Sections 124-A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 of the Informational Technology Act.
Chopra's residence was locked, and he couldn't be found there, said Dungarpur SP Sudhir Joshi on Sunday, as reported by news agency PTI.
"Our team is camping in Noida and searching all possible locations to trace him. Yesterday also our team went to Chopra's house but he was not found there and his residence was locked," he added.
Joshi further said that Noida police have not cooperated with them over the matter.
"Our team was stopped and asked to come to a local police station before directly acting on the arrest warrant. We cannot say that it is full cooperation," he said, adding that Noida police was already informed about the matter.
Meanwhile, Bisrakh (Noida) Station House Officer (SHO) Umesh Bahadur Singh, however, has refuted the claims by the Rajasthan Police and said that they "facilitated the entire process.”
More on the FIRs Against Chopra
Three FIRs were registered against Chopra in April after he hosted a show on the demolition of a temple in Alwar district’s Rajgarh. The FIRs were registered at Bichwada in Dungarpur, Bundi and in Alwar.
The police said that Chopra was booked under Sections 124-A (sedition), 295A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 of the Informational Technology Act, Scroll reported.
Notably, the FIR was registered by a man who claimed that Chopra had given false and fictitious details by showing that the demolition of a temple in Rajgarh of Alwar district was done by the Rajasthan government in retaliation for the demolition in Delhi's Jahangirpuri, according to Dungarpur Kotwali police station.
While the first FIR was registered on 23 April in Dungarpur's Bichwada police station by Congress worker Krishna Raj Singhl, the second was in Bundi on 23 April, and the third was in Alwar on 24 April, Hindustan Times reported.
In a relief to Chopra, the Rajasthan High Court had stayed his arrest in two FIRs that were registered in Bundi and Alwar districts.
Joshi said that the Rajasthan High Court order stayed his arrest in FIRs that were registered in Bundi and Alwar districts and didn't mention Dungarpur.
(With inputs from PTI and Hindustan Times.)
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