New Delhi: Delhi Police on Thursday revealed that three Youth Congress workers arrested in the AI Summit shirtless protest case are not the residents of Himachal Pradesh.
This comes after a 24-hour-long standoff between the Delhi and Himachal Pradesh Police ended on Thursday, with the latter allowing Delhi Police to take custody of three Youth Congress activists arrested in connection with the protest and bring them to the national capital.
According to Delhi Police sources, the Youth Congress workers arrested by the Special Cell include Saurabh from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, Arbaaz from Sultanpur, and Siddharth from Rewa.
None of the three accused is a resident of Himachal Pradesh. Police said all of them had escaped after the protest and were hiding in Himachal Pradesh.
Of the three arrested accused, two were present at the protest, while one was allegedly involved in the conspiracy.
A day earlier, the Himachal Police registered a kidnapping case against its Delhi counterparts and “detained” their vehicles at the Shogi border near Shimla along with the three Youth Congress activists when they were en route to Delhi.
In a late-night development, the three accused, along with Delhi Police personnel, were taken to the residence of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ekansh Kapil after undergoing medical examination at the Deendyal Upadhyay Zonal Hospital here and were granted the transit remand.
Later, the Delhi Police personnel were detained in the state capital, and a few police personnel were allowed to return to the national capital with the accused.
The remaining police personnel were asked to stay behind and cooperate with the investigation into the kidnapping case against them.
The Himachal Police “seized” a vehicle belonging to the Delhi Police that contained CCTV footage and other evidence. However, the Delhi Police pleaded that the “seized” vehicle carried digital evidence, documents and arms.
The arrested leaders belonged to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
At least 20 Delhi police personnel were detained on Wednesday for arresting the Youth Congress leaders from Rohru town in Shimla district.
A Delhi Police team reached Rohru, arrested the Youth Congress activists, and was heading back to Delhi when it was stopped near Dharampur town in Solan district by the state police, who detained them. The arrest of policemen was carried out by the Shimla Police.
Congress lawmaker Kuldeep Rathore has demanded that the state government take stern action against the Delhi Police. He termed the police action against the Youth Congress workers as an attempt to suppress their voices.
“Raiding premises without a warrant is a clear violation of privacy,” Rathore said in a press statement on Wednesday. He also criticised the Central government, stating that the country is not the property of one party. “In a democracy, governments come and go, but the opposition’s duty is to raise the people’s voice,” he said.
(IANS)
