The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, arrested for his contentious social media posts on Operation Sindoor, but refused to stay the investigation against him.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotisar Singh directed the Haryana director general of police to constitute a three-member special investigation team (SIT) headed by an inspector general (IG) rank officer also including a superintendent (SP) rank woman officer within 24 hours to investigate the case. The top court said the interim bail was granted to the petitioner to facilitate further investigation and directed Mahmudabad to surrender his passport.