New Delhi, May 18: Delhi police are likely to drop sedition charges against Kanhaiya Kumar as they haven't found any evidence to prove that the student leader shouted anti-India slogans at a JNU campus event that landed him in jail earlier this year.
But two others - university scholars Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya who both spent time behind bars with Kanhaiya for alleged sedition before getting bail - are "under the scanner", a senior officer familiar with the probe told The Telegraph today.
In a draft chargesheet sent to the Union home ministry recently, the police said they had "credible" evidence against Umar and Anirban and that the two were among those who had organised the February 9 event where anti-national slogans were shouted.
The event was held to protest the February 2013 hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
"We have not yet found any evidence which shows Kanhaiya shouted those slogans. Anirban and Umar are under the scanner as they were among the organisers of the controversial event where anti-India slogans were shouted. They are likely to be charged with sedition," the officer said.
Umar and Anirban, among 19 students penalised by the JNU administration, were last month rusticated for varying terms.
Kanhaiya, who had said "it is not azaadi from India but... azaadi in India (that) we want" while addressing a student gathering after his release from Tihar, was fined Rs 10,000.
Last week, however, Delhi High Court ordered that no punishments would be carried out till vice-chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar had acted on the students' appeals against the action.
The police report to the home ministry cited a purported video of the campus event that sources said showed some students shouting anti-India slogans like "India go back", " Hum lekar rahenge azaadi" and "Kitne Afzal maroge, ghar ghar se Afzal niklega".
The sources said the police were scheduled to file the chargesheet early this month but deferred it saying they needed to probe further.
Another reason for the delay, they said, was that Delhi police commissioner Alok Verma, who succeeded B.S. Bassi in March, was not happy with the probe and had asked the special cell to make it a foolproof case.
Bassi had come under attack after he retweeted a dubious tweet saying Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Saeed had backed the February 9 event. Based on Bassi's retweet, home minister Rajnath Singh had claimed that Saeed supported the JNU event, triggering a showdown with the Opposition.
Yesterday, Delhi police got reports on four video clips related to the February 9 event. A police officer said the reports on the clips - that were sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Gandhinagar - had certified the footage as "genuine".
"But we are also awaiting the report on another set of video clips, including the one broadcast by some news channels and alleged to be doctored. The clips have been sent to the CFSL," the officer said.
Earlier, a magisterial probe had found TV footage of the event aired by some channels doctored.
Police have recorded the statements of independent witnesses besides the statements of JNU security guards and members of RSS student wing ABVP. "We have identified eight outsiders who were part of the February 9 event," another police officer said. "Some of them were students of other universities."
The officer said the chargesheet would be filed late next month or early July. "By then we will get the reports on the other set of video clips from the forensic lab."
