Ahead of Rahul Gandhi's scheduled visit to Hathras UP Congress chief put under house arrest

Hathras, Oct 03: UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu has been put under house arrest ahead of the scheduled visit of senior leader Rahul Gandhi to Hathras on Saturday, the party said.

According to party spokesperson Anshu Awasthi, police personnel have been stationed outside Lallu's house and he is not being allowed to venture outside. "The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Ajay Kumar Lallu has been placed under house arrest at his residence in the state capital," Awasthi said.

The step has been taken to prevent Lallu from joining Rahul Gandhi who is scheduled to visit Hathras, he added. By doing so, the state government is only exposing itself. It has removed all doubts from people's mind that it has resorted to gundagardi and is blatantly standing with the criminals of Hathras, he said.

A tweet by Uttar Pradesh Congress said, "Our state president Shri Ajay Kumar Lalluji, our district heads and more than 500 workers have been placed under house arrest. Yogiji don't stop those who fight for justice."

Meanwhile, authorities in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh on Saturday reopened the borders and said they would allow media to enter the village, where a 19-year-old woman was gang-raped.

On Thursday, police had set up barricades roughly 2km from the village on the main road, blocked off all access paths and deployed policemen on the mud tracks and in the fields to prevent any "outsiders" from accessing the village.

Officials also said that Section 144 was clamped in the area. They had said the ongoing probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was the reason for the restrictions.

"Since SIT probe in the village is complete, the restriction on media has been lifted. More than five media persons are now allowed to gather as Section 144 of CrPC is in place," Prem Prakash Meena, Sadar senior divisional magistrate said.

"Only the media is allowed right now. When orders come in to allow delegations, we will let everybody know. All allegations about phones of the family members being taken away or confining them in their homes are absolutely baseless," Meena said.