Ten supporters of yoga guru Baba Ramdev have been arrested on charges of rioting, causing damage to public property and obstructing public servants from discharging their duties while they were being evicted from the Ramlila grounds here early on Sunday.
The police said the accused indulged in brickbat, and throwing of flower pots and objects from the stage as projectiles targeting the police. “Some of them instigated the crowd and obstructed the police while they were discharging their official duties,” said a police officer, adding that a case was registered at the Kamla Market police station.
While five of them belong to Haryana, two are from Delhi and one each from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Assam. The police have approached television news channels that covered the high drama at the ‘satyagrah' venue seeking footage of the entire episode that left scores injured. “We have also approached a private security agency that had installed closed-circuit television cameras on the Ramlila grounds to obtain copies of the footage.”The police will examine the video recordings to prepare a report sought by the Supreme Court regarding the late-night crackdown on Ramdev and his supporters.
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“We informed Baba Ramdev that he would have to leave the premises immediately as permission granted for holding yoga shivir at the venue had been withdrawn and that there was a specific intelligence input regarding a threat to his life. However, he did not comply and instead jumped off the stage among his supporters. This worsened the situation and we were left with no choice,” said a police officer.
The police said a large number of persons were heading to the capital to participate in the ‘satyagrah.' So they had to carry out the eviction process in the night itself.