Leaders of Left parties and the JD(U) on Saturday called on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi seeking a magisterial probe to establish the “authenticity” of evidence produced against JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested on sedition charge in connection with an event organised on the campus against the hanging of Afzal Guru.
The delegation comprising CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI national secretary D. Raja and JD(U) MP K.C. Tyagi termed the on-going developments at the JNU as a “political conspiracy” by the Centre to terrorise students, “reminding of days of Emergency”.
“The evidence based on which this conspiracy has been hatched is wrong. There is a need to have an independent probe to check authenticity of the evidences.
“Hence, we came here to meet Kejriwal seeking independent magisterial enquiry. He has assured us to look into the matter positively,” Mr. Yechury told reporters after the meeting, which took place after the >delegation first met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
Mr. Yechury stated that an independent probe is required to ascertain if all the evidences needed have been furnished by the police before court and whether those are “authentic”.
On being asked why the delegation called on Mr. Kejriwal after meeting Mr. Singh, Mr. Yechury said given the incident occurred in the territory of Delhi, the AAP leader, being Chief Minister, has all the rights to conduct a probe and establish the authenticity of the evidence.
Mr. Tyagi defended Mr. Kanhaiya claiming the JNUSU president had not raised “anti-India” slogans and he has done “nothing wrong” by criticising the RSS, the BJP and Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani.
Mr. Kanhaiya, member of the CPI’s student wing AISF, was on Friday arrested in connection with a case of sedition and criminal conspiracy over holding an event at the prestigious institute against hanging of Guru, sparking widespread outrage among students and non-BJP political parties.
