High Court relief for Shantanu Muluk; Disha Ravi can meet kin

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 16

A Delhi court today allowed environmentalist Disha Ravi access to her family and lawyers and to warm clothes and books. It also directed the police to furnish a copy of the FIR to Disha’s family along with a copy of the remand application.

Disha, who is in police custody till February 19 in the toolkit case, will be allowed to meet her lawyer for 30 minutes and family for 15 minutes daily.

Beed (Maharashtra)-based engineer Shantanu Muluk got 10-day relief from arrest from the Bombay High Court even as the court reserved orders until tomorrow on lawyer Nikita Jacob’s plea.

The Delhi Police have cast the net wide and are investigating, among others, a foreigner “having links” to a proponent of the ISI’s K2 (Khalistan-Kashmir) desk. Alongside Disha, lawyer Nikita Jacob and Muluk, the police are probing Pieter Friedrich.

“Friedrich has been on our radar since 2006 when he was spotted with Bhajan Singh Bhinder (Iqbal Chaudhary), a vocal proponent of the ISI’s K2 desk,” said a Delhi Police officer. Friedrich’s name, the police said, had been cited in the “who to follow” part of the toolkit Disha and her associates allegedly created and shared with global climate activist Greta Thunberg to call for global action on January 26.

The police wrote to videoconferencing app Zoom for details of 70 persons who attended a January 11 meeting allegedly called by pro-Khalistan outfit Poetic Justice Foundation to prepare the toolkit. The cops say Canada-based Khalistan backer Mo Dhaliwal anchored the meeting “with an aim to create misinformation and cause disaffection against the Indian government”.

The Delhi Commission for Women issued a notice to the Delhi Police, asking for a report by Friday on why they did not allow Disha a lawyer of her choice. Though the police reiterated that due process was followed at the time of her arrest, the DCW said there were lapses.