Ghaziabad assault video case: Twitter India MD wants to join probe virtually

GHAZIABAD:

The Twitter India managing director has offered to join through video conference the Ghaziabad police probe into the circulation of a communally sensitive video clip of an elderly Muslim man on the social media platform, officials said on Monday.

The Ghaziabad police was told that the information for the probe sought by it does not pertain to Twitter India but to the Twitter Inc, the global head office, the officials said.

Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari, who lives in Bengaluru in Karnataka, was issued notice by the Ghaziabad police on June 17 and asked to report at its Loni Border police station within seven days to get his statement recorded in the case, the officials added.

"The Twitter India MD has responded and offered to join the probe via video call for the time being. He has assured his cooperation with the police," Superintendent of Police (Ghaziabad Rural) Iraj Raja told PTI.

"Twitter India officials have also provided the police with some information and clarifications on the issue. In light of this information, we are going to send another notice to relevant officials of Twitter India," Raja said.

The Ghaziabad police is yet to take a call on Maheshwari's response on joining the probe through video conference and are in touch with the legal experts of Twitter India, the officer said.

"We will see how it works out. If we find that video call is sufficient then he would be allowed this option otherwise also they have assured cooperation by physical presence," Raja said.

The Ghaziabad police has so far issued notices to Twitter India and news website The Wire in the case in which journalists Mohammed Zubair and Rana Ayyub, writer Saba Naqvi, Congress politicians Salman Nizami, Maskoor Usmani, Shama Mohamed have also been accused of sharing the video with an intention to provoke communal unrest.

Notices to other accused would be issued soon, the police officials said on Monday.

In the video clip, which surfaced on social media on June 14, elderly Muslim man Abdul Shamad Saifi purportedly says he was thrashed by some young men and asked to chant 'Jai Shri Ram'.

The Ghaziabad police, however, has ruled out a communal angle and said incident was a result of personal enmity as the accused were unhappy about a 'tabeez' (amulet) Saifi had sold to them.

The FIR states that the Ghaziabad police had issued a clarification statement with facts of the incident but despite that, the accused did not remove the video from their Twitter handles.

The police had also clarified that those who attacked Saifi included Hindu as well as Muslim men and the incident was a result of personal issues between them and not communal, it said.

"Besides this, Twitter Inc and Twitter Communications India did not take any measures to remove their tweets," it added.

So far 10 people allegedly involved in the attack on Saifi have been arrested over the FIR that was lodged on June 7 after his complaint, two days after the incident, the police said.

Local Samajwadi Party workers Ummaid Pehelwan Idrisi has also been arrested after a separate FIR was lodged against him for allegedly circulating the video clip of Saifi through his Facebook account by giving it a communal colour, the police added.