Sharad Yadav taken into preventive custody by UP police

GHAZIABAD: JD(U) President Sharad Yadav tonight said he was taken into preventive custody by Uttar Pradesh Police at Ghaziabad when he was on his way to Allahabad to participate in a meeting on reservation issue.

Yadav said he had left New Delhi by Duronto Express. The Ghaziabad police had already intimated him that he would not be allowed to reach Allahabad and would be detained at Ghaziabad itself, Yadav said.

He was taken to a state administration guest house from the Ghaziabad station, Yadav told PTI.

However, there was no word from Ghaziabad police on the incident.

The JD(U) leader said he was surprised at the state administrations' decision to detain him as it was a normal programme by some social groups which he was going to attend in Allahabad.

JD(U) General Secretary Javed Raza said that Yadav was going to participate in an all-India level programme on the issue of reservation in Allahabad's K P College organised by Samajik Nyay Morcha, which is a group of pro-reservation students.

The detention of Sharad Yadav came a day after violence had broken out in Allahabad yesterday during a protest against the new reservation policy by UP Public Service Commission as youths went on a rampage pelting policemen with stones, vandalising dozens of vehicles and shops and raising slogans against the Commission and the state government.