Delhi Police seek more time to probe Owaisi's 2014 hate speech

The Delhi Police on Monday sought more time to investigate a complaint filed against All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi for allegedly delivering a hate speech in 2014.

Delhi's Karkardooma court will hear the matter on January 15, next year.

In a reply filed earlier, the city police said to have served notices to a news channel to provide unedited complete video copy of his speech. In response to the notice, the channel informed them that they could not find the video.

The channel further said that as per Section 5.3 of the Telecom Regulation Authority of India (TRAI), "the company shall keep a record of the content uplinked for a period of ninety days and produce the same before any agency of the government, as and when required."

The police had filed an FIR against Owaisi on the court's direction in 2015. It was filed under the charges of promoting enmity among religious groups, criminal conspiracy, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and various sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

The city police had last year filed a closer or an untrace report on the FIR. In the closer report, the police stated that nothing could be found about the source or authenticity of the derogatory video and as a result of which it was not possible to collect any evidence against the proof warranting the filing of challan against him.

The court had earlier sought a response from the police on a protest petition filed by the main complainant Ajay Gautam asserting that it has not inquired or recorded the statement of the applicant or conducted an investigation against the accused in the last three years because of his "high political influence".