New Delhi: A scuffle broke out between the protesting wrestlers and police personnel at Jantar Mantar here on Wednesday midnight. The Delhi Police has tightened security around Jantar Mantar following the incident. According to sources, heavy police force has been deployed at the site and the whole area has been barricaded.
The police have detained Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda and chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Swati Maliwal who had reached the spot to support the wrestlers. Around 15 others have also been detained in a bus.
Some people were raising slogans of jai jawan jai kisan' and Bharat Mata ki jai'.
AAP minister Saurabh Bhardwaj was also among those who had reached the site to show his support to the top wrestlers of the country, including Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat among others, who are protesting here since April 23 against the chief of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Uttar Pradesh Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over sexual harassment charges.
A scuffle had allegedly broken out between the protesting wrestlers and some police personnel at the Jantar Mantar here, leading to head injuries to a couple of protesters.
The wrestlers have alleged that they were manhandled by the police personnel.
Meanwhile, the police claimed that a minor altercation occured after AAP leader Somnath Bharti brought folding beds to the protest site without permission.
"When intervened, the supporters became aggressive in trying to get the beds out of the truck. Subsequently, a minor altercation took place, in which Somnath Bharti, along with two others, was detained," said the DCP.
Four people, including Congress leader Deepender Hooda and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Somnath Bharti, were detained following the incident, police said.
In a video being circulated on social media platforms, some of the protesters can be heard accusing a police personnel of attacking two wrestlers under the influence of alcohol.
The accused policeman is seen sitting in the video, while the protesters allege that his colleagues were mute spectators.
(With agency inputs)
