Ghaziabad assault case: Karnataka HC quashes notice against Twitter MD Manish Maheshwari

New Delhi, July 23: The Karnataka High Court on Friday quashed a notice, issued by the Ghaziabad Police in connection with the assault of a Muslim man in Loni, against Twitter Managing Director Manish Maheshwari.

The high court has allowed UP Police to record his statement via virtual mode or by visiting his office or home, news agency ANI reported.

The court said if the Uttar Pradesh Police needs to question Maheshwari, they can do so at his office address or even virtually. It also said that the notice issued under Section 41A of the CrPC can be treated as issued under Section 160. "The notice under 41A appears malafide," the court said.

The Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) police had issued the notice under Section 41-A of the CrPC on June 21 asking him to report at the Loni Border police station at 10.30am on June 24.

Maheshwari had moved the Karnataka High Court as he lives in Bengaluru in Karnataka.

On June 24, the High Court, in an interim order, restrained the Ghaziabad police from initiating any coercive action against him.

Justice Narendar had also maintained that if the police wanted to examine him, they could do so through virtual mode.

The Ghaziabad police, on June 15, booked Twitter Inc, Twitter Communications India Pvt.Ltd.(Twitter India), news website The Wire, journalists Mohammed Zubair and Rana Ayyub, besides Congress leaders Salman Nizami, Maskoor Usmani, Shama Mohamed and writer Saba Naqvi.

They were booked over the circulation of a video in which an elderly man, Abdul Shamad Saifi, alleges he was thrashed by some young men who also asked him to chant ''''Jai Shri Ram'''' on June 5.

According to police, the video was shared to cause communal unrest.