Delhi police detain 217 Cong workers, leaders while protesting Rahul Gandhi's grilling by ED

A total of 217 functionaries and workers of the Congress party were detained in the New Delhi district.They include eight Lok Sabha members and seven Rajya Sabha MPs and all of them have been released.

The Delhi Police on Tuesday detained 217 Congress workers and leaders, including 15 MPs, from the New Delhi district for protesting the questioning of Rahul Gandhi by the ED, in violation of prohibitory orders and despite being denied permission.

They were later released, a police official said.

Hundreds of Congress supporters and leaders, including K C Venugopal and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, were detained outside the party headquarters at 24, Akbar Road, and around central Delhi as they tried to hold a protest against the ED's questioning of Rahul Gandhi for the second consecutive day in the National Herald money-laundering probe.

The former Congress chief was questioned for over 10 hours on Monday.

''We detained 217 people including, some senior functionaries of Congress from the New Delhi district and sent them to various police stations. They have been released now.

''Today also police denied them permission to organize gathering because CrPC section 144 has been invoked,'' said Sagar Preet Hooda, the Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order Division).

Of the 217 detained, 15 were Congress MPs, he said.

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi joined senior party leaders at a ''dharna'' at the Congress headquarters, where the chief ministers of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and party MPs were also present.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also attended the protest at the Congress headquarters.

Some Congress leaders and MPs were not allowed to enter the party headquarters and were taken to different police stations.

Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore claimed that he and some other leaders, including P L Punia, were not allowed to enter the party office and were detained at the Mandir Marg police station.

Among the other leaders detained were Randeep Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh, Gaurav Gogoi, Deepender Singh Hooda, Ranjeet Ranjan, Jeby Mather, Imran Pratapgarhi, Youth Congress chief B V Srinivas and NSUI chief Neeraj Kundan.

In a statement, Special Commissioner of Police Sagar Preet Hooda said, ''Delhi Police personnel facilitated Rahul Gandhi to proceed to the office of Enforcement Directorate and requested others to stop at the barricades.'' ''They (Congress supporters and leaders) were detained for violation of prohibitory orders under CrPC section 144. A total of 217 functionaries and workers of the Congress party were detained in the New Delhi district.

''They include eight Lok Sabha members and seven Rajya Sabha MPs and all of them have been released. Some detention have also been made in other parts of Delhi and suitable legal action is being taken,'' the police officer said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)