Two days after the Supreme Court of India granted bail to Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in 6 cases filed against him across Uttar Pradesh, it has come to light that senior NDTV journalist Sreenivasan Jain furnished a surety bond on his behest.
The development was confirmed on Twitter by political commentator Abhijit Iyer Mitra. He tweeted, “Confirmed! Mr Jain did indeed furnish the bond of “close friend” Mohammad Zubair.”
As per the documents, Sreenivasan Jain coughed up ₹50000 for Mohammed Zubair whom he described as a ‘close friend.’ The bond paper read, “I, Sreenivasan Jain, hereby declare myself for Mohammed Zubair that he shall attend the Officer-in-charger of Special Cell Police Station…”
“…Or the court of LD CMM, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi every day on which any investigation in the charge is made or any trial on such charge is held, that he shall be and re-appear before such officer or court for the purpose of such investigation to answer the charge against him (as the case may be) and in the case of his making default herein, I have bind myself to forfeit to Govt. the sum of ₹50000,” it further stated.
Abhijit Iyer Mitra pointed out, “This is literally how NDTV avoids getting ‘fact-checked’. Provides surety and coverage. This is the AltNews extortion model and the NDTV “channel of record” model”
Last week, Mohammed Zubair filed a petition with the Supreme Court requesting that six FIRs filed against him in Uttar Pradesh be dismissed. His plea challenged the FIRs recorded in Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, and Hathras.
On June 27, Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police over a complaint filed by a social media user over his old tweets, where he insulted Hindu Gods and Goddesses. He was booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153 and 295A.