JNU row: Rahul Gandhi, Kejriwal, Yechury among 9 booked for sedition

Hyderabad, February 28

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury are among the nine persons who have been booked for sedition, police said on Sunday.

Congress leaders Anand Sharma and Ajay Maken, Communist Party of India leader D Raja and Janata Dal (United) spokesperson KC Tyagi are the other leaders with sedition, besides Jawharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and JNU research scholar Umar Khalid.

"Following the court's directive, a case under section 124A of the IPC (sedition) has been registered yesterday against nine people, including Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Sitaram Yechury, JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and others," Saroornagar Police Station Inspector S Lingaiah said on Sunday.

Court will gear the case on March 4 next.

In his complaint filed before a metropolitan magistrate on Thursday, lawyer Janardhan Goud said Gandhi and other leaders visited Jawaharlal Nehru University despite knowing that Kumar had been charged with sedition and supported protesting JNU students.

Kumar and Khalid are among the five people already facing sedition charges for “anti-national” activities at an event they held on JNU campus. Kumar is in jail while Khalid is in police custody.

Besides the two, three other students face the charges — one of who is also in police custody.

The students had been accused of having been involved in an event where “anti-India” slogans were raised. The event was held on JNU campus on February 9 to mark Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s third death anniversary. — PTI