"No One Asked Me": Fact-Checker Mohammed Zubair On '2 Crores For Tweet' Charge

Two days after leaving Tihar Jail, fact checker Mohammed Zubair said that he will continue to work as he used to. Mr Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through his tweets.

"I will do my work as I used to as the honourable court (Supreme Court) has not put any restriction," Mr Zubair said.

On the allegation that he received Rs 2 crore for his tweets, Mr Zubair said that no investigation asked him about it. "I came to know about this allegation only after my release. No investigation agency asked me about it," he said.

The allegation had been first made by Uttar Pradesh government in a UP Court. Additional Advocate General Garima Prashad, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government had said that the petitioner is not a journalist and alleged that "he is earning by making malicious tweets. The more malicious the tweets are, the more payment he gets".

"He has accepted that he has received ₹ 2 crore for his tweets. He is no journalist", she said, adding that here is a person who takes advantage of hate speech videos and makes them viral to create a communal divide.

While ordering his release yesterday, the Supreme Court had said, "It's a set principle of law that power of arrests must be pursued sparingly. In present case no justification to keep him in continued detention and subject him to an endless round of proceedings in various courts."

The court disbanded a special probe in UP against Mohammed Zubair and transferred all UP cases to Delhi. The judges also rejected the Uttar Pradesh government's request that Mohammed Zubair be "stopped from putting out tweets".

The fact checker also said that he was not tortured by the police.