Political drama, protests, detentions after exsoldier’s suicide over OROP
POLICE SAY Rahul, Kejriwal detained, party workers lay siege to RML
NEWDELHI: The day that began on a shocking note after the suicide of an ex-serviceman over the one rank, one pension (OROP) scheme, turned into a high-voltage drama of sorts.
In a bizarre move, police packed political leaders, who went to the hospital where the ex-soldier’s body was kept, into buses and took them from one police station to the other even as the crowd of supporters swelled. Party workers followed the buses, raising slogans against the Central government.
As protests broke outside the RML hospital around 9am, where Ram Kishan Grewal died, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, former cabinet minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and other party leaders along with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal were detained. All the leaders were released by around 8 in evening.
Police presence was increased at RML after news of the death broke. Aam Aadmi Party MLA Surinder Singh, Rahul Gandhi and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia reached the hospital, demanding they be allowed to meet the family.
By noon, there were about 200 people outside the hospital protesting against the Central government. Delhi Police spokesperson DCP Rajan Bhagat said the hospital superintendent filed a complaint, alleging that the protesters were disrupting the services.
Gandhi and the AAP leaders were then detained around 12.30pm and taken to different police stations.
At about 4pm, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was also detained from outside the Lady Hardinge hospital, where Grewal’s body was taken for autopsy, and taken to the RK Puram police station.
Between 12.30pm and 8pm, police took Gandhi to three police stations — Parliament Street, Mandir Marg and Tilak Marg. He was detained twice in the day.
“We had to shift them to different police stations because the protesters were increasing in numbers outside the police stations and hospitals. It was done to ensure the flow of traffic was not affected,” said a police officer.
According to the police, Gan- dhi was first detained from outside RML hospital when he insisted on meeting Grewal’s family and taken on a long journey to Mandir Marg police station. He was released at 3pm.
Within an hour of his release, Gandhi and his supporters reached South Avenue police station to meet Grewal’s family. After a brief spat with the personnel posted outside the police station, Gandhi and Congress leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sheila Dikshit, Ajay Maken moved to Connaught Place where police had kept the Grewal family.
“At the CP police station, protesters created a ruckus and refused to leave despite several warnings. When they refused to listen, we detained Gandhi along with other leaders,” a senior police officer said.
After Gandhi’s second detention, the crowd swelled up at Connaught Place police station, following which he was taken to Mandir Marg police station.
“As followers came to know of Gandhi’s detention at Mandir Marg, they flocked to the police station in huge numbers. It is then that we put him in a bus and transferred him to Parliament Street police station and then to Tilak Marg,” a police officer said.
While Gandhi and other Congress leaders were being transferred in a bus amid heavy police security, protesters raised slogans criticising the Central government for detaining Gandhi.
Doctors at Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC) have not begun the autopsy as they are waiting for a written consent from the family of Subedar Ram Kishen Grewal to conduct an autopsy.