StatesDelhi
Influencer Amir Shokeen sent to five days' police custody over video targeting Tripura man
A Tis Hazari court granted Delhi Police custody on Saturday so investigators can travel to Ahmedabad to recover a mobile phone. Shokeen has apologised but says the clip was scripted.
Key points
- A Tis Hazari court sent social media influencer Amir Shokeen to five days of police custody on Saturday.
- Police want to take him to Ahmedabad to recover a mobile phone linked to the video.
- Shokeen apologised after the backlash but now says the clip was scripted and the man was known to him.
A Delhi court on Saturday sent social media influencer Amir Shokeen to five days of police custody in a racial harassment case over a video targeting a man from Tripura.
Delhi Police arrested Shokeen in the Karol Bagh area on Thursday. When he was first produced at the Tis Hazari court on Friday, he was remanded to one day of judicial custody. On Saturday police asked for him to be handed over for questioning, and the court granted five days.
Police told the court they need to take Shokeen to Ahmedabad in Gujarat to recover a mobile phone. His defence said police do not yet know exactly where in Ahmedabad the phone is.
According to police, Shokeen made the video about a month before his arrest. It circulated widely on social media and drew a backlash. The man from Tripura seen in it has not been named.
Shokeen first apologised after the backlash. He later said in a Facebook post that the video was scripted, that the man in it was known to him and had worked at a friend’s cafe in Ahmedabad, and that both of them were joking. He said he had no intention of insulting anyone.
This is not the first FIR against him: several earlier cases have also been registered against the influencer.