Congress General secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was on Friday detained by the Uttar Pradesh police at Narayanpur while she was on her way to meet victims of firing in Sonbhadra, that left 10 people dead on Wednesday.

After being stopped, Gandhi said that she will continue to sit there peacefully while adding that the administration did allow her to move ahead even when she said she would take only four people along with her.

Advertisement

“Just want to go and meet families of victims; I even said will take only 4 people with me. Yet, the administration is not letting us go there. They should tell us why we are being stopped. We will continue to sit here peacefully,” Priyanka told media.

As she refused to move from the spot where her convoy was stopped, Priyanka Gandhi was taken away in a government vehicle. “I don’t know where are they taking me, we are ready to go anywhere,” she said.

Section 144 has been imposed in Sonbhadra, which prohibits an assembly of more than four people in the area.

Priyanka was seen in visuals sitting by the roadside in Mirzapur near Sonbhadra, surrounded by her security and Congress workers.

Earlier in the day, Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh East Priyanka Gandhi met a few people at a hospital, who were injured in the firing over a land dispute in Sonbhadra on July 17.

At least 10 people, including three women, died and over 24 were injured in a clash between Gond and Gujjar communities over a land dispute in Sonbhadra district on Wednesday.

Police have arrested 24 people including the village chief in connection with the violence. A case has been registered against 78 people.

On the day of the incident, Priyanka had tweeted: “In the BJP ruled state, the confidence of criminals is so high that broad day-light killings are continuously happening. The killing of 9 Gond tribesmen, including 3 women, by the land mafia in Umbha village of Sonbhadra is heart-wrenching. Administration and Chief Minister are all sleeping. Is this how the state will become crime-free?”

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has blamed the Congress for the incident.