Bassi cautions youth against anti-India movement, says it's an offence

New Delhi: As the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) row over an event against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru raged, Delhi police on Sunday alerted Indian youth - highlighting LeT chief Hafiz Saeed's tweet – to stay away from such instigating anti-India posts.

Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi said, "We highlighted Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Saeed's tweet to educate Indian youth to stay away from anti-India slogans."

Earlier, Delhi Police had issued an alert through the official twitter handle of the Commissioner's office saying, "This is to alert and sensitise the student community in JNU and across the country. Do not get carried away by such seditious anti-national rhetoric. Abetment of any kind of anti-national activity is a punishable offence."

In the alert, Delhi Police had also pinned a tweet by the handle named HafeezSaeedJUD which says, "We request our Pakistani brothers to trend #SupportJNU for our pro-Pakistani JNUite brothers."

Bassi said the police is investigating as to whether the twitter handle actually belonged to the LeT founder.

Backing the sedition charges slapped against JNU students, he said probe indicates that JNU student’s union president Kanhaiya Kumar is involved.

His statement came after Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the protests at JNU are being supported by Hafiz Saeed.

During a press conference, Singh said, "JNU ki jo ghatana hui hai, usse LeT ke chief Hafiz Saeed ka bhi samarthan prapat hai. Desh ko iss haqeqat ko bhi samajhna chahiye kyuki usne samarthan kiya hai. Yeh bhi bhot he durbhagya puran hai. (The incidents at JNU are being supported by LeT chief Hafiz Saeed. The nation should understand that these protests are being supported by him (Hafiz Saeed). This is unfortunate.)"

Rajnath's comments came two days after a series of tweets, purportedly by Saeed, had appeared under a hashtag asking Pakistanis to support the agitation in JNU.

Meanwhile, hours after Singh's statement MHA clarifies that his remark was based on inputs from security agencies.

JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested by the Delhi police on sedition charges reportedly for attending an event in JNU campus where they condemned Afzal Guru’s hanging.

Kanhaiya's arrest has triggered widespread outrage among students and teachers and drawn severe criticism from non-BJP political parties.