A planned private screening in Mumbai of a documentary on jailed student activist Umar Khalid was cancelled after police allegedly pressured the managers of two venues approached by the organisers, according to reports by Hindustan Times and Scroll.

The documentary, Prisoner No. 626710 is Present, was scheduled to be screened on Saturday for around 40 to 60 registered participants. Organisers Shrishti Khanna and Prashant Pundir said they had initially approached a venue in Bandra before finalising a paid venue in Andheri after the first location became unavailable.

Khanna told the two publications that people in civilian clothes, whom she believed to be police personnel, arrived at the Andheri venue around 7pm on Friday after the organisers had confirmed the arrangements. They allegedly questioned and intimidated the manager and pressured him to cancel the screening.

According to the organisers, the manager subsequently received a call from a person claiming to be police personnel, after which a police vehicle arrived at the venue. The manager then contacted the organisers and told them he could no longer host the event.

The organisers said the screening was a private event with participants registered in advance and was not a public demonstration or gathering.

After the Andheri venue cancelled the event, the organisers said they informed attendees that the screening had been called off. They later alleged that plainclothes police personnel went to the Bandra venue they had initially approached, questioned the person in charge and asked them to cancel the screening, despite the event no longer being scheduled there.

Khanna also raised concerns about how police allegedly obtained information about the venues. She said details of the planned screening had not been publicly shared online and that some information appeared to have come from a private organising group.

“We are deeply concerned and worried about the shrinking political space for organising solidarity events in Mumbai after such intimidation and surveillance,” Khanna told Hindustan Times, alleging that access to their private organising communications suggested possible surveillance.

Umar Khalid has been in judicial custody for six years in connection with the conspiracy case related to the 2020 Delhi riots. The trial in the case has yet to begin, according to Scroll.

Mumbai Police have not publicly responded to the allegations. Scroll said it contacted the Mumbai police commissioner’s office for comment and that the report would be updated if the police respond.