Rahul, Yechuri, Kejriwal booked for sedition

A FIR charging vice president Raul Gandhi, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechuri, Delhi Chief Minister Aravind Kejriwal and others with sedition was registered at a police station here on Sunday.

On the direction of a city court, the Saroornagar police station in Cyberabad police commissonerate registered the FIR against Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanahiya Kumar, student Umar Khalid and the politicians from the Congress, the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Aam Aadmi Party.

Communist Party of India leader D. Raja, Congress leaders Ajay Maken and Anand Sharma and Janata Dal-United leader K.C. Tyagi have also been named in the FIR.

The case has been registered under section 124 A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.

Police took the action after a metropolitan magistrate issued the orders on a petition filed by a lawyer, requesting the court to forward their complaint to the police station under section 156 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code for investigations.

Janardhan Goud, the petitioner, had told the court that though he approached the police station on February 14 to register the case, police declined to do so.

The lawyer alleged that that anti-India slogans were raised during a protest organised by the two statudents at the JNU on February 9 against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

He said Rahul Gandhi and other leaders also committed sedition by visiting the JNU to support the students who had raised anti-Indian slogans.

Police said they will seek legal opinion before taking further action in the case.