A four-member TMC delegation, which was scheduled to meet the grieving families of those killed in Uttar Pradesh during protests against the new Citizenship Act, was “detained” at Lucknow airport on Sunday afternoon, party sources claimed.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Md Nadimul Haque, who is part of the delegation, said he and other party memebers were staging a sit-in near a hanger at the airport.

“We have been detained at Lucknow airport. As soon as we got down from the aircraft, we were surrounded by the police and were taken by the police to a secluded spot on the runway. We are staging a dharna near a hanger,” Haque told PTI over phone from Lucknow.

The delegation, led by party’s former MP Dinesh Trivedi also includes parliamentarian Pratima Mondal and Abir Biswas.

Meanwhile, “The police have denied firing in Lucknow during Thursday’s protests, when mobs torched a bus, four cars, three TV vans and nine motorcycles, mostly parked near police outposts and police pickets.”
The development comes after UP CM Yogi Adityanath said, that those involved in violence in the state will be avenged.

With protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) taking over the nation, Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh seems to be facing one of the most violent consequences with 16 people reported being dead, according to PTI. With internet shutdown in most of the districts of the state the death toll is expected to be much higher than reported officially.

Sixty-five people were arrested and 350, including a former legislator, have been charged for allegedly spreading violence over the contentious CAA, the police said on Saturday. A special drive has been launched to arrested those resorting to violence and pelting stones on police during protests, they said.

More than 65 people have been arrested and FIRs registered against 350 anti-social elements, senior police official Sudhir Kumar Singh told news agency PTI. An FIR has been also lodged against former Loni MLA Zakir Ali, he added. Singh said miscreants have been identified and will be arrested soon.

The internet services were suspended in as many as 18 districts of Uttar Pradesh. The districts that are facing a complete internet shutdown are Hapur, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Muzzafarnagar, Shamli, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Unnao, Agra, Sultanpur, Mau, Bagpat, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Azamgarh, Kanpur, Pilibhit.