New Delhi, February 26 – A Delhi court on Thursday ordered the detention of five Youth Congress workers arrested in connection with a protest during the India AI Impact Summit for three days in police custody.
The Patiala House Court remanded the accused – Saurabh, Arbaaz, Siddharth, Ajay, and Raja Gurjar – to police custody and directed that they be produced before the court again on March 1.
Among the five accused, Saurabh, Arbaaz, and Siddharth were recently brought to Delhi after being arrested in Himachal Pradesh, while Ajay and Raja Gurjar had already been in custody in connection with the case.
Earlier, a 24-hour standoff had erupted between the Delhi Police and the Himachal Pradesh Police after a Delhi Police team detained three Youth Congress activists from Rohru in the Shimla district.
The Himachal Police had registered a kidnapping case against the Delhi Police personnel and temporarily detained them near the Shoghi border before granting transit remand through a local court.
The three accused – Saurabh, Arbaaz, and Siddharth – were later brought to the national capital after legal formalities.
The Delhi Police has maintained that none of the three are residents of Himachal Pradesh and that they allegedly went into hiding after the protest.
Of the three arrested accused, two were present at the protest, while one was allegedly involved in the conspiracy.
Earlier, on February 21, the court had remanded four Youth Congress members to five days of police custody following their arrest during the protest at the high-profile summit.
Subsequently, on February 24, the court remanded Indian Youth Congress (IYC) National President Uday Bhanu Chib to four days of police custody after his arrest in connection with the incident.
According to the police, Chib did not cooperate during questioning and failed to disclose details about the absconding co-accused and the source of printing the T-shirts used during the protest.
The protest has triggered a political row, with the Bharatiya Janata Party criticizing the incident as an attempt to tarnish India’s global image, while the Congress party has maintained that it was a peaceful demonstration highlighting concerns of the youth.