Arrested JNU students deny raising "anti-national" slogans

New Delhi, Feb 24  Jawaharlal Nehru University students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, who are facing sedition charges for allegedly raising “anti-India” slogans on the varsity campus, were grilled for five hours in police custody where they denied raising “anti-national” slogans, a police source said.

Both Khalid and Bhattacharya surrendered before the police late night on Tuesday. The other three students Ashutosh Kumar, Rama Naga and Anant Prakash Narayan, facing the same charges, are yet to surrender.

According to sources, the arrested students told police that the event was unorganised and was held without permission and pro-separatists slogans may have been raised at the gathering. 

“Ashutosh managed the poster and banners of the programme while a person Riyaz decided the slogans to be raised at the event. A girl volunteer managed social media and networking for the event,” an official who knew about the interrogation told IANS declining to be named.

Riyaz is one of the three youths against whom the Delhi Police last week had issued lookout notices at the airports.