Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 28

Apprehending that the Ghaziabad Police would challenge the Karnataka High Court’s order protecting him from arrest and allowing his virtual questioning in the Loni viral video case, Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari has filed a caveat in the Supreme Court to pre-empt any ex-parte order against him.

Maheshwari has urged the top court that he should be heard before any orders are passed on any petition filed by the Ghaziabad Police against the Karnataka High Court’s in connection with the Loni assault case — a video of which had gone viral on Twitter, sources said.

The High Court on June 24 had directed Ghaziabad Police not to take any coercive action against Maheshwari and question him virtually only.

Ghaziabad Police had on June 21 issued notice to Maheshwari – who lives in Bengaluru—and asked him to report at Loni Border Police Station at 11.30 am on June 24 for recording of his statement but he didn’t turn up.

The case relates to assault on an elderly man at Loni in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad district. A video of the incident was widely circulated on social media.

A video from Loni in Ghaziabad showing a group of men thrashing an elderly Muslim man and cutting off his beard went viral earlier this month as a large number of users posted a muted video of the incident.

It was alleged that the victim was forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram”. But later many of the users deleted the video after the Police said there was no communal angle as it was the handiwork of some youth from the same community.

Loni Border Police, Ghaziabad lodged an FIR against Rana Ayyub and four others on June 15 under Sections 153, 153A, 295A, 505 and 120B of IPC for sharing the video without verifying its authenticity. The Bombay High Court had granted protection from arrest to Ayyub.