Delhi police lathicharge anti-corruption protesters; Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and Manoj Sisodia detained

NEW DELHI: Hundreds of protesters of India Against Corruption were lathicharged by Delhi Police as they tried to force their way to 10, Janpath, the residence of Sonia Gandhi.

Key IAC members Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and Manoj Sisodia have been detained by the police again. Police fired tear gas shells and opened water canon to stop the protesters at the Tughlaq Road intersection.

Several protesters were detained by Delhi Police and kept at Tughlaqabad police station for a while.

However, later they were released and allowed to sit and protest on the road.

IAC had called for protests on Sunday outside the reisdence of Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and BJP president Nitin Gadkari, accusing both the Congress and BJP for alleged irregularities in coal blocks allocation.

Earlier in the day, Arvind Kejriwal and six of his aides detained while trying to stage protests near Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence and two other places.

They were released after about two hours.

"Some of the detained people were manhandled," an IAC spokesperon said. Police tried to take them to Bawana but Kejriwal refused to go till there was a FIR (first information report).

After the group was let off, Kejriwal and everyone made it to Jantar Mantar in the heart of the capital and vowed to return to Manmohan Singh's residence and the other two protest venues.