Alt News parent company Pravda Media received Rs 2 lakh from foreign countries: Police

Delhi Police on Saturday said Pravda Media, under which Alt News operates, received over Rs 2 lakh through various transactions wherein either the mobile phone number or the IP address was of foreign countries.

From the analysis of a reply received from Razorpay payment gateway, it was revealed that there were various transactions in which either the mobile phone number was of outside India or the IP address was of foreign countries and cities, including Bangkok, Australia, Manama, North Holland, Singapore, Victoria, New York, England, Riyadh Region, Sharjah, Stockholm, Abu Dhabi, Washington, Kansas, New Jersey, Ontario, California, Texas, Lower Saxony, Bern, Dubai, Scotland, a statement issued by the police said.

A total of Rs 2,31,933 was received by Pravda Media through these transactions, it added.

Delhi Police arrested Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair on June 27 in a case related to an “objectionable tweet” he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity.

He was produced in a court here on Saturday and police sought his 14-day judicial custody in the case. His four-day police custody ended on Saturday.

During social media analysis, it was noticed that Twitter handles that supported Zubair and had tweeted in his support after his arrest were mostly from the middle eastern countries like the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait as well as countries like Pakistan, the statement said.

Police have invoked new provisions — sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code and section 35 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act — against Zubair.

Earlier, a case was registered against him under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, language, etc) and 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code).