New Delhi, Feb 25: A court here on Thursday granted protection from arrest till March 9 to Shantanu Muluk, who is accused along with Disha Ravi in connection with allegedly being involved in sharing a "toolkit" on social media related to the farmers' protest.
Muluk along with Ravi and another co accused Nikita Jacob, was booked for alleged sedition and other charges.
Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana granted the relief after Delhi police said it needed time to conduct further interrogation before filing a detailed reply to Muluk's anticipatory bail plea.
The judge directed the police not to take any coercive action against Muluk till March 9, when court will further hear the matter.
Muluk had got transit bail from Bombay High Court on February 16 for a period of 10 days, with a direction to approach the court concerned.
In his application, Muluk has said that he merely created the toolkit with information on the agitation, which was then edited by others without his knowledge.
According to the police, the 'Toolkit' was a sinister design to defame India and cause violence.
Ravi was arrested by a Cyber Cell team of the Delhi Police from Bengaluru and brought to Delhi.
Muluk and Jacob are currently on transit bail, while Ravi was granted bail after nine day custody.
If convicted for sedition, the accused may get a maximum jail term for life.
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Lucknow (PTI): A chief judicial magistrate's court in Uttar Pradesh's Banda on Friday ordered a judicial inquiry into the death of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, a senior official said.
Banda Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Bhagwan Das Gupta appointed Garima Singh, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (MP-MLA Court Banda) as the investigating officer in the case, the official said.
The CJM has sought the probe report within a month.
The 63-year-old Ansari was brought to the Rani Durgavati Medical College in Banda from the district jail in "an unconscious state" on Thursday evening and died at the hospital following a cardiac arrest.
Afzal Ansari, who is also the Ghazipur MP, on Tuesday alleged that his brother was given slow poison in jail.
"Mukhtar said that he was given a poisonous substance in food in jail. This happened for the second time. Around 40 days ago also he was given poison. And recently, he was again given this (poison) due to which his condition is bad," Afzal Ansari had said.
Afzal Ansari had said that during the virtual hearing of a case in a Barabanki court on March 21, Ansari's lawyer had filed an application in the court alleging that his client had been given "slow poison" in jail due to which his condition was deteriorating.
Earlier, Ansari was hospitalised for around 14 hours on Tuesday after he complained of abdominal pain.
According to the probe order letter, a request was made by the Senior Superintendent, District Jail, Banda on March 28 to nominate an officer for the judicial inquiry into the death of Ansari.
Director General of Prisons SN Sabat had earlier told PTI that there will be a judicial inquiry into the matter.