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Ahmedabad: The Australian national Wen Johnson, arrested for invading pitch while wearing a t-shirt with pro-Palestine messages during India-Australia World Cup final match at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, was sent to one day police custody for further investigation.
Police want to investigate from where did he get the t-shirt, match tickets, among other things.
Police said that Johnson, a TikToker, is a serial match invader who has caused similar disruption elsewhere in the past.
Johnson was arrested following registration of an FIR with Chandkheda police station under whose jurisdiction the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera falls.
He has been booked under section 322 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 447 (criminal trespass) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
On Monday, he was produced before the Gandhinagar court where the police sought his ten days remand. The court sent him to one day police custody.
The case has been handed over to the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB), which was also part of the security arrangements at the stadium.Chaitanya Mandlik, the deputy commissioner of police, DCB, told DH that Johnson is a “prankster” whose custody has been sought for investigating the case and also find out how did he get the t-shirt, tickets, among other details.
The Australian national invaded the pitch during the 14th over when Virat Kohli and K L Rahul were batting. A CCTV footage released by the police showed him jumping the fences and dodging nearly a dozen security and groundsmen who unsuccessfully tried to stop him.
He reached the pitch and hugged Kohli briefly after which he was escorted out of the ground by security men. Police said that in the past Johnson invaded the football ground during FIFA women World Cup with t-shirt wearing “free Ukraine” message.
In a press note, the DCB stated the despite not having to do anything with Ukraine, Johnson interrupted the match. It stated that during interrogation, he reportedly told policemen that he was not associated with any international issues but “merely to seek publicity he entered stadiums unauthorisedly during international matches.”
Police said that he is a resident of Sydney and came to Delhi with friend identified as Ven Johnson who was not found to have visited Ahmedabad with him. His father is Chinese while mother is from Philippines.
