Former Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Umar Khalid was arrested late on Sunday night under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act(UAPA) for his alleged role in the northeast Delhi riots, sources said.
He was arrested by the special cell of the Delhi police after 11 hours of interrogation. He will be produced before a Delhi court on Monday, they said. Khalid was questioned by the Delhi Police Crime Branch for a couple of hours on September 2 in connection with the riots.
As per the report by HT, Khalid was questioned for the first time on July 31 for his alleged role in the riots. While talking about the case, one of the police officers said that Khalid was questioned regarding the purported provocative speeches. He had allegedly delivered at two different places before the visit of US President Donald Trump in February.
Earlier also, after the riots in Delhi, a clip of a speech made by Umar Khalid had gone viral. BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya had also shared the clipped video and wrote, "Umar Khalid, already facing sedition charges, gave a speech in Amaravati on 17Feb, where he exhorted a largely Muslim audience to come out on streets in huge numbers when Trump arrives in India on 24th. Was the violence in Delhi planned weeks in advance by the Tukde Tukde gang?"
Later in his parliament speech on North-East Delhi riots, union home minister Amit Shah, while talking about the organization of which Umar is part of, had said, “United Against Hate, the name sounds so pious but look what they advocated. They said, ‘Trump is about to come, we should block the streets’.”
However, the clip had only 42 seconds of the full speech given by Khalid in Amravati, Maharashtra on February 17, 2020.
In the speech, Umar had appealed people to agitate against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Population Register (NPR).
He can be heard saying, "On the 24th when Donald Trump will come to India, we will tell that the PM and Government of India are trying to divide the country. They are destroying the values of Mahatma Gandhi; and the people of India are fighting against the rulers. If the government wants to divide India, the people of India are ready to work towards uniting the country. We will come out on the streets. Will you people come out?"
You can watch the full speech here:
(With inputs from PTI)
