The Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested JNU student Sharjeel Imam, booked in sedition case, from Jahanabad in Bihar.
Speaking about the arrest of the anti-CAA activist, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that the police must have acted according to law for wrongdoing.
"Protests are one thing, but nobody can talk about country's disintegration," Kumar was quoted as saying by PTI.
"We have arrested Sharjeel Imam from Jehanabad," said Rajesh Deo, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch.
The force had deployed five teams to locate Imam, a resident of Bihar. Raids were conducted in Mumbai, Patna and Delhi.
The Crime Branch of Delhi police had, on Sunday, booked Imam, the co-ordinator of the Shaheen Bagh protests, for his controversial "cut off Assam from India" speech that he allegedly made a few days ago at the protest site.
"These speeches have the potential to harm the harmony between different religious segments of the society and the unity and integrity of India. A case FIR under sections 124A, 153A and 505 has been registered by SIT Crime Branch against Imam for delivering the controversial speeches," the Delhi police had said earlier.
At the same time, a case had been registered against Imam by the Uttar Pradesh police for his controversial speech delivered during the students protest at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on January 16 against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The JNU scholar was wanted by the police of several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Delhi.
Assam Police had earlier registered an FIR against him for allegedly inciting people to "cut off" Assam from the rest of India. Arunachal Pradesh police too followed suit, registering a case against him for his inflammatory speeches.
Earlier, on Tuesday, his brother was picked up by police in Delhi amid attempts to trace Imam.
While the police did not divulge details, residents of Malik Tola locality in Kako police station area, where Imam's ancestral house is situated, claimed that a heavy police contingent had raided the premises at about 4 am. Reportedly, they took Muzammil Imam, the younger brother of the JNU research scholar and another person into custody for questioning.
The police had raided Imam's ancestral home on Sunday night after "help was sought by central agencies".
Said to be in his early 30s, Sharjeel Imam has a degree from IIT-Bombay and later moved to Delhi to pursue research at JNU's Centre for Historical Studies.
(With inputs from agencies)
