The Ludhiana police on Tuesday arrested several Congress leaders, including Lok Sabha MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu and former MLA Sanjay Talwar, after a minor scuffle outside the city police commissioner’s office.
Ludhiana police commissioner Kuldeep Singh Chahal said those arrested were produced before a local court and sent in judicial remand for 14 days.
![](https://i0.wp.com/data.indianexpress.com/election2019/track_1x1.jpg?resize=1%2C1&ssl=1)
![Ludhiana Congress workers protest](https://i0.wp.com/images.indianexpress.com/2024/03/ludhiana-police-3.jpeg?resize=1600%2C1055&ssl=1)
Bittu, Ashu, Talwar and other Congress leaders, along with hundreds of their supporters, gathered outside the commissioner’s office to give their court arrest in connection with an FIR registered against them in connection with the ruckus outside the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation headquarters last month.
Speaking to the media before his arrest, Bittu said: “If we can be booked for locking the MC office, then FIR should be registered against CM Bhagwant Mann also as he also got a lock inside Vidhan Sabha and asked the Speaker to lock the gate. Being the CM, he violated the rules and even got a lock for the Speaker. We will continue to lock corrupt offices which are looting the public due to the inefficiency of the current government.”
On Monday, Mann had got a lock in the Assembly and asked the Speaker to lock the gate so that opposition MLAs could not walk out.
The Congress leaders and their supporters stormed the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation headquarters on February 27 and locked its main gate in protest against the “inefficiency of ruling AAP government” and “widespread corruption in Ludhiana civic body.”
Following the uproar after the Congress leaders jumped over police barricades and clashed with the police before putting up the lock. (Express Photo by Gurmeet Singh)
Following the uproar after the Congress leaders jumped over police barricades and clashed with the police before putting up the lock, the Ludhiana police booked them for obstructing public servants from duty and creating ruckus in an FIR registered at division number 1 police station.
“We have unanimously decided to give arrest on March 5 in front of the CP office in the false and politically motivated FIR registered against senior leaders, including Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Sanjay Talwar and others and me. But in no way can such FIRs stop us from standing for the common public. We will put locks on more such government offices which have turned into a den of corruption due to the inefficiency of the ruling AAP government. They are not working for the public. Instead, they are just minting money and harassing the common man,” Bittu, the Ludhiana MPA, had said after registration of the FIR.