Best friend goals! NDTV journalist Sreenivasan Jain furnished Rs 59k bond for 'his close Hinduphobic friend' Zubair

New Delhi, July 22: A friend in need is a friend indeed. It seems NDTV journalist Sreenivasan Jain has taken the phrase very seriously as it comes to light that he has furnished the ₹50,000 bail bond surety for his "close friend", Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, after the SC granted bail to him in 6 cases filed against him across Uttar Pradesh.

 

 

The development was confirmed on Twitter by political commentator Abhijit Iyer Mitra. He tweeted, "Confirmed! Jain did indeed furnish the bond of "close friend" Mohammad Zubair."

 

As per the documents, Sreenivasan Jain coughed up ₹50000 for Mohammed Zubair whom he described as a ‘close friend.’ The bond paper read, "I, Sreenivasan Jain, hereby declare myself for Mohammed Zubair that he shall attend the Officer-in-charger of Special Cell Police Station…"

 

 

 

"…Or the court of LD CMM, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi every day on which any investigation in the charge is made or any trial on such charge is held, that he shall be and re-appear before such officer or court for such investigation to answer the charge against him (as the case may be) and in the case of his making default herein, I have bind myself to forfeit to Govt. the sum of ₹50000," it further stated.

 

Abhijit Iyer Mitra pointed out, "This is literally how NDTV avoids getting ‘fact-checked’. Provides surety and coverage. This is the AltNews extortion model and the NDTV "channel of record" model"

 

Last week, Mohammed Zubair filed a petition with the Supreme Court requesting that six FIRs filed against him in Uttar Pradesh be dismissed. His plea challenged the FIRs recorded in Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, and Hathras.

 

On June 27, Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police over a complaint filed by a social media user over his old tweets, where he insulted Hindu Gods and Goddesses. He was booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153 and 295A.