Cops seek info from Zoom on Jan 11 meet; funding, WhatsApp group under probe

New Delhi, Feb 16: Intensifying its probe in the toolkit case, the Delhi Police on Tuesday sought details from video conferencing platform Zoom on the participants of the January 11 meeting by a pro-Khalistan group, while investigators were also looking into the funding aspect, sources said.
The Delhi Commission for Women sent a notice to the city police on the arrest of climate activist Disha Ravi in the case and sought a report by Friday on issues like why she was allegedly not provided a lawyer of her choice when produced before a court.
However, Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava denied any lapse.
“Disha Ravi’s arrest has been made in accordance with the law which doesn’t differentiate between a 22-year-old or a 50-year-old,” he told reporters at an event while dismissing criticism of the police action against Ravi. Sources said police are also likely to approach WhatsApp seeking details of the ‘International Farmers’ Strike’ group created in December last year, they said.
According to police, Disha Ravi, along with Mumbai lawyer Nikita Jacob and Pune engineer Shantanu, created the “toolkit” related to the farmers’ agitation and shared it with others to “tarnish” India’s image.
The police on Monday claimed that 22-year-old Disha, who was arrested on Saturday from Bengaluru, sent the “toolkit” to teen climate activist Greta Thunberg through the Telegram app and also “coaxed her to act on it”.
Police alleged that Nikita Jacob and Shantanu were among the around 70 people who had attended the meeting organised by pro-Khalistan group Poetic Justice Foundation through the Zoom app, days before the Republic Day violence in the national capital that left more than 500 police personnel injured and one protester dead. Police sources claimed that Shantanu was in the national capital between January 20 and 27, but did not elaborate.
“The Delhi Police has written to video conferencing app Zoom seeking details of participants who attended the meeting on January 11,” the official said.
“We are also trying to probe the funding module in the toolkit case,” a source said.
Officials said that police have so far not received a reply from Google on the document being investigated. On Tuesday, the DCW asked the police to provide a copy of the FIR registered in the matter and reasons for allegedly not producing Ravi before a local court for transit remand.
It also asked the reasons for allegedly not providing a lawyer of her choice when she was produced before the court here, and a detailed action taken report, a statement said.
The commission has asked police to provide the information by Friday, it added. (PTI)