New Delhi, February 23 The Delhi Police has made the fifth arrest in connection with the protest by Indian Youth Congress workers, who stripped naked at the AI Impact Summit here last week, an official said on Monday.
The accused, identified as Jitendra Yadav, was apprehended in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, bringing the total number of arrests in the case to five, the police said.
On Friday, a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a dramatic protest, stripping naked, at an exhibition hall during the AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam. They walked around holding T-shirts with slogans against the government and the India-US trade deal printed on them, before being taken away by security personnel present at the venue.
The Delhi Police arrested four IYC workers on the day of the protest, with officials saying that a wider conspiracy angle in the matter was under investigation.
The issue triggered a political row, with the BJP calling it a "shameful act to tarnish India's image on the global stage," and the IYC defending it as a "peaceful" demonstration aimed at safeguarding national interests.
According to the police, the IYC workers entered the lobby area of Hall No. 5 and raised slogans after removing the T-shirts worn under their shirts.
According to police sources, the protesters allegedly registered online to obtain QR codes to enter the venue. The accused had initially planned to paste printed stickers on black umbrellas and sneak them into Bharat Mandapam.
However, they later felt that the black umbrellas might draw the attention of the security personnel manning the gates, so they changed their plan and got the printed stickers placed on T-shirts and wore them under their shirts, a source said.
Once inside, they raised slogans after removing the shirts worn over slogan-printed T-shirts, which read "PM is compromised," "India-US Trade Deal," and "Epstein Files."
The sources claimed that the protesters also manhandled some police officers on duty, and the entire matter is under investigation.
The investigators are also probing the financial trail behind the protest, including who funded the printing of slogans on the T-shirts.
IYC president Uday Bhanu Chib was earlier questioned in connection with the case, and more names have surfaced during the interrogation of the accused, the sources said.