Delhi Police to soon charge Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid in sedition case: Sources

Vartha Bharati | 21-12-2018 | 20:30:00 IST

New Delhi, Dec 21: The Delhi Police is in the process of finalising its charge sheet in the sedition case against former JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar and other activists, including Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, police sources said.

Kumar, Khalid and Bhattacharya were arrested in 2016 on charges of sedition for allegedly organising an event in Jawaharlal Nehru University campus against the hanging of Parliament-attack mastermind Afzal Guru. The arrests had triggered a huge controversy with the opposition slamming the police for "working at the behest of ruling BJP".

"The charge sheet is in the process of being finalised and is likely to be filed soon. The names of eight Kashmiri students also figures in the draft charge sheet," said a police officer, requesting anonymity.

The controversial programme sparked an outrage after allegations were made that anti-national slogans were raised.

The arrest of Kumar catapulted him to national fame and resulted in protests across the country.

After footage of the event was found to be authentic, some students were questioned by the Special Cell sleuths last year.

Sources close to Khalid said they came to know about the draft charge sheet through media reports and have learnt it might be finalised in the next week or so.

Left activist and students' leader Shehla Rashid said it is a "forgotten trump card" of BJP. She said, "When BJP kept playing the anti-national card (JNU, Ramjas), it kept winning state elections in Assam, UP, etc. Now, after facing defeat in state assembly polls, BJP pulls out the forgotten trump card for 2019 as it is #ZERO on farmer issues, economy, etc."

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Odisha: BJD suspends 6 MLAs for cross-voting in RS polls

21-03-2026 ¦ 21-03-2026 IST

Courtesy: PTI

Bhubaneswar (PTI): The Biju Janata Dal on Saturday suspended six of its MLAs for cross-voting during the recent election to four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha.

The suspended legislators were Chakramani Kanhar of Baliguda seat, Naba Kishor Mallick of Jayadev constituency, Souvic Biswal of Choudwar-Cuttack, Subasini Jena of Basta, Ramakanta Bhoi of Tirtol and Devi Ranjan Tripathy of Banki, an order by party chief Naveen Patnaik showed.

The suspension decision was taken at the opposition party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting presided over by Patnaik.

The six MLAs were issued a show-cause notice on March 17.

They submitted their replies on Friday evening, and those were found not satisfactory, said the BJD's chief whip in the Assembly, Pramila Mallik.

The ruling BJP won two of the four Rajya Sabha seats while the opposition BJD and a saffron party-backed Independent candidate bagged one seat each in the biennial polls held last Monday.

While the total number of BJP legislators and Independent MLAs supporting the ruling party was 82 in the 147-member House, the saffron party candidates secured 93 first preference votes, which was 11 more than its strength in the Assembly.

Of these 11 votes, eight were of BJD MLAs and three of Congress legislators, an official had said.