Ramdev melts in crowd, sports woman's dress to hoodwink police

New Delhi, Jun 5: Maverick he is and Baba Ramdev proved it once again early this morning at Ramlila Maidan as he jumped from the dais and melted into the crowd, after which it took almost an hour for the police to locate the yoga guru who was clad in a woman's attire.

Locating the 46-year-old yoga guru in the crowd as well as sending him out of Delhi was marked by high drama, keeping the security establishment on their toes as they wanted to ensure law and order in the city.

As the men in khaki in large numbers marched in at the Ramlila Ground at around one am, the saffron-robed yoga guru rushed to the microfone and shouted ''Vande Mataram'' to wake up most of his followers who had by then fallen asleep.

A large number of lathi and gun-toting policemen tried to climb the dais, following which 46-year-old Ramdev sought five minutes from them to gather his articles but he took them by surprise as he leaped from the three-metre high podium and ran towards the enclosure where women were seated.

Policemen were at sea as they could not locate Ramdev amidst a big gathering of women and in order to dupe them, he was clad in a woman''s attire and to cover his beard, he used the ''dupatta'' of a follower.

PTI