Rahul Gandhi doctored video case: SC grants relief to anchor Rohit Ranjan

The Supreme Court on Friday granted relief to TV news anchor Rohit Ranjan and directed the concerned authorities not to take any coercive steps against him in connection with multiple FIRs lodged against him for running an alleged doctored video of Congress leader Rahul GandhiA vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari also issued notice to the Central government through the office of the Attorney General on Rohit Ranjans pleaSenior Advocate Siddharth Luthra appearing for Rohit Ranjan told the apex court that multiple FIRs were lodged against him for the same allegationIn the plea filed through law firm Karanjawala and Co the petitioner Ranjan has sought various reliefs including quashing of FIRs filed against him or clubbing of multiple FIRs lodged against him in connection with a misleading showLuthra mentioned Ranjans plea before the Supreme Court on Wednesday and apprised the court that he was arrested on Tuesday by Noida Police and later released on bail and now the Chhattisgarh Police wants to arrest himLuthra has said that the matter needs an urgent hearing as Ranjan will be in repeated custody due to multiple FIRs lodged against himHe has informed the court that he does a show in which there was a mistake and he later apologized for it but multiple FIRs were filed against himChhattisgarh Police on Tuesday reached the television channel news anchors residence in Ghaziabad Uttar Pradesh after an FIR was registered against him following the broadcast of a misleading video on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for which the channel had issued an apologyThe anchor Rohit Ranjan however was taken into custody by Noida Police after he took to Twitter earlier and posted Chhattisgarh Police is standing outside my house to arrest me without informing the local police is it legalHe tagged Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and SSP Ghaziabad and ADG Zone Lucknow in the tweetResponding to Ranjans tweet the Raipur Police Chhatisgarh posted on its Twitter handle There is no such rule to inform Still now they are informed The police team has shown you the courts warrant of arrest You should in fact cooperate join in the investigation and put your defence in courtMeanwhile ADCP Noida said In the course of an investigation registered at police station Sector 20 a person named Rohit Ranjan working in a news channel is being questionedRanjan on his show said In our show DNA Rahul Gandhis statement was taken in the wrong context by linking it to the Udaipur incident it was a human error for which our team apologisesThe Congress filed a complaint in Raipur against Ranjan for allegedly running a doctored video of Rahul GandhiAccording to reports the FIR filed by Congress said that Rohit Ranjan intentionally linked Rahul Gandhis statements on the vandalization of his office to the Udaipur incident in an attempt to incite public sentimentsCongress MP Rahul Gandhi while referring to the attack on his Wayanad office had said The children who did this have acted in an irresponsible way They are kids forgive them