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A Delhi court on Saturday dismissed _Alt News_ cofounder Mohammed Zubair’s plea for bail and sent him in police custody for 14 more days,_ Live Law __reported_. Zubair was arrested on June
27 and charged with hurting religious sentiments after an anonymous tweeter known as _Hanuman Bhakt_ complained that a satirical post made by the journalist four years ago and referencing a
trope from a 1983 film was a “direct insult of Hindus”. He has been in the Delhi police’s custody since. An _investigation by the ___Wire__ found that Hanuman Bhakt could be connected to
Vikas Ahhir, head of the Hindutva groups Hindu Yuva Vahini and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in Gujarat. Ahead of Saturday’s hearing on his custody as well as bail pleas, the police slapped
new charges on Zubair related to criminal conspiracy; destruction of evidence; and violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. Zubair has _helped raise funds_ for the mostly Muslim
families in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi whose homes were bulldozed by police in the wake of communal violence in recent months. At today’s hearing, the police alleged that he got donations
from Pakistan and Syria which had to be investigated. In the afternoon, the Delhi police’s cyber crime head KPS Malhotra told journalists that the court had rejected Zubair’s bail plea and
sent him to 14-day police custody. The journalists duly reported the “breaking news” even though the court had not yet made a ruling. Malhotra subsequently told the journalists that he had
“misheard” what the investigation officer had told him happened in the court. “It is extremely scandalous and speaks volumes of the rule of law in this country that even before the judge has
sat, the police have leaked to the media,” _NDTV_ quoted Zubair’s lawyer Soutik Banerjee as saying.