Anna Hazare sent to Tihar jail

The 74-year-old Hazare and two key members of his team – Mr Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia – have been sent to seven days in judicial custody because they refused to apply for bail after being arrested in the capital today. All three are fasting.

In cities, big and small, across the country, angry people have taken to the streets in protest against Anna Hazare’s arrest. Thousands have been detained, almost 1,400 in Delhi alone. (Forum: Do you agree with Anna Hazare’s fast?)

A united Opposition has demanded that Anna be freed. Now, the Left has also suggested that all Opposition parties boycott Parliament for three days. (Read)

The government has, at various levels, spent all day justifying the police action on Anna Hazare. Delhi Police has said Mr Hazare had be detained and then placed under “preventive arrest” to maintain law and order in the capital, because the activist leader refused to comply with conditions and then with orders not to go ahead with his fast.

Home Minister P Chidamabaram said it was “a painful duty” to arrest him; in a very high-level huddle, senior ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Mr Chidambaram met Rahul Gandhi a little after noon on Tuesday. This after the Opposition forced an adjournment of Parliament over the issue.

A day of much action began early. At 7.30 am on Tuesday morning, minutes before Mr Hazare was to set out for his fast against corruption, about a dozen policemen in plain clothes detained him at fellow-activist Prashant Bhushan’s residence at Supreme Enclave in Delhi’s Mayur Vihar, where he was staying. They tried to whisk him away in a white Innova car, but hundreds of angry protestors ensured that the car could barely move for over an hour.

Mr Hazare, with several of his key aides who are now also under arrest, was taken to the Delhi Police Mess near The Oberoi Maidens in north Delhi and was produced before a special executive magistrate there. He was then taken to the office of the DCP (West) from where he was sent to Tihar Jail.

The police action foiled his plan to fast at Delhi’s JP Park, but the Anna has not eaten or even had water since early morning, say members of his team. Doctors are expected to attend to him soon.

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