Police detain nearly 450 Cong MLAs, workers marching towards ED office

Police had put up multi-layered barricades close to the Congress' office and put leaders in two buses when they tried to march towards the ED office

Over 450 Congress leaders and workers were on Monday detained by Delhi Police as they attempted to march towards Enforcement Directorate (ED) along with top leader Rahul Gandhi who was summoned for questioning in the National Herald case.

Police said a total of 459 people were detained from the New Delhi district, which included senior leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh, KC Venugopal and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury among others.

Police said it had received a letter from the Congress seeking permission to hold a satyagraha of about 1,000 party workers in solidarity with Rahul but permission was denied.

Read | Rahul Gandhi grilled by ED for nearly 3 hours in National Herald case; questioning to continue

However, it said, the entry of 100 senior leaders & staff of the AICC was allowed into the AICC HQ through Akbar Road & Maulana Azad Road roundabout whose list was to be provided in advance.

"Adequate arrangement was made in view of the apprehension that huge gathering of the party leaders/workers may disturb the security & safety of the VIPs, ED office/officers, neighbouring offices/residences, the general public, etc. Promulgation u/s 144 CrPC is already in force w.e.f. 24.05.2022 in the area thereby prohibiting the holding of any public meeting, processions, demonstration, etc," Special Commissioner (Law and Order) Sagarpreet Hooda said.

Hooda said Congress assured them that the gathering will not accompany Rahul to the ED office but as soon as he left from 24 Akbar Road to the ED office, many Congress leaders along with workers started proceeding along with him in the form of a procession.

"Fifteen15 Lok Sabha MPs, 11 Rajya Sabha MPs, 5 MLAs and other functionaries/workers of the Congress Party were among the total 459 detained in the New Delhi. All woman workers/functionaries detained by police have been released," he said.

Hooda said some complaints have been received at Tughlak Road police station regarding injuries to congress leaders and workers during police action but no such incident of use of force by police took place as per our knowledge and no MLC case has been reported so far.

"Still, if there are allegations of some manhandling or so during the detention, the same will diligently be looked into for appropriate action," Hooda said.