Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan was arrested by Noida Police in Ghaziabad on Tuesday, 5 July, after the channel aired allegedly misleading clips about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
A case had been filed against Ranjan at Noida Sector-20 police station.
Earlier in the day, a team from Chhattisgarh Police had arrived at Ranjan's residence in Ghaziabad's Indirapuram area to arrest him.
On the basis of a complaint filed by Congress MLA Devendra Yadav at Raipur's Civil Lines police station, Ranjan has been booked under several Indian Penal Code's (IPC) sections, including Section 153-A (Promoting Enmity on Grounds of Religion or Race), Section 295-A (Malicious Acts Intending to Hurt Religious Beliefs), Section 504 (Intentional Insult), Section 505 (1)(b) [Intent to Cause Fear or Alarm to Public].
UP Police Obstructed Arrest: Raipur Police
The Raipur police alleged that they were obstructed by their Uttar Pradesh counterparts who took Ranjan along with them.
"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."Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Prashant Agrawal, as quoted by news agency PTI
MLA Yadav in his complaint alleged that in a 1 July video, Rahul Gandhi had described those who attacked his Wayanad office as "children" and but the video was "mischievously" used by the TV channel to suggest he was forgiving the killers of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal, reported PTI.
A team has been constituted for the investigation of the case.
Cases had been registered against Ranjan in several states for his statements against Gandhi.
'Is This Legal?' Tweeted Rohit Ranjan Before Arrest
"Chhattisgarh Police is standing outside my house to arrest me without informing the local police, is it legal," the journalist had tweeted in Hindi. He also tagged UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, SSP Ghaziabad and ADG Zone Lucknow in his tweet.
"There is no such rule to inform. Still, now they are informed. Police team has shown you court's warrant of arrest. You should in fact cooperate, join in investigation and put your defence in court," the Raipur police had said in response to his tweet.
Ghaziabad police also responded to the tweet, "The matter is in the cognizance of the local police, the Indirapuram police station is on the spot and action will be taken as per the rules."
Congress alleged that Ranjan distorted the statement of senior leader Rahul Gandhi in his special TV show, which they say tarnished his image.
About 19 Congress workers were also arrested in Noida for protesting outside the TV channel and burning effigies on Sunday.
Ranjan had, on 2 June, misquoted Gandhi’s video statement on the Udaipur incident and had subsequently corrected himself and apologised on a TV broadcast.
He tweeted, "Yesterday, in our show DNA, Rahul Gandhi's statement was taken in the wrong context by linking it to the Udaipur incident, it was a human error for which our team is apologetic and we apologise for it."
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