New Delhi, January 14: The special cell of Delhi police on Monday filed a chargesheet in the sedition case against former JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar and other activists, including Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya. In the chargesheet, the police also named student activist Shehla Rashid and CPI leader D Raja's daughter Aprajita. The chargesheet reportedly says the police don't have strong evidence against Shehla Rashid.

A total of 35 people have been named in the 1200-page chargesheet. The chargesheet is filed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 124A (sedition), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 465 (forgery), 471 (using as genuine, forged document), 143 (punishment for unlawful assembly), 149 (unlawful assembly with common object), 147 (rioting) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and others are accused of raising 'anti-India' slogans during a programme at Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2016. Khalid and Bhattacharya had allegedly organised an event in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus against the hanging of Parliament-attack mastermind Afzal Guru. Kanhaiya Kumar Likely to Contest 2019 Lok Sabha Election from Begusarai on CPI Ticket.

The controversial event at the JNU had sparked outrage after allegations were made that anti-national slogans were raised by Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and others. Several videos of the event surfaced wherein anti-national slogans could be heard. However, some of the videos were found to be doctored. All videos collected by the Delhi police were sent for forensic examination to verify their authenticity.

According to the police, four videos of the controversial event were found genuine after forensic examination and in those videos, Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya were found shouting anti-India slogans. The police have attached the report of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) which reportedly certify the authenticity of the videos. Reacting to the development, Kanhaiya Kumar 'thanked' Prime Minister Narendra Modi for charges on him.

"If the news is true that a chargesheet has been filed, I would like to thank police and Modi Ji. The filing of chargesheet after three years, ahead of elections clearly shows it to be politically motivated. I trust the judiciary of my country," he said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 14, 2019 02:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).