Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu arrested after dharna over buses for migrant workers
Agra: Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu was arrested here after he sat on a dharna for grant of permission to the buses arranged by the party to enter the state, police said on Wednesday.
Senior party leaders Pradeep Mathur, Vivek Bansal and Manoj Dixit were also arrested, they said.
"A case has been registered against Ajay Kumar Lallu under various sections of the IPC and the Epidemic Act at the Fatehpur Sikri police station. Lallu was arrested on Tuesday evening, and he along with other Congress leaders were put in the Police Lines," Senior Superintendent of Police, Agra, Babloo Kumar said.
On Tuesday, Lallu and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's secretary were booked by the police after the state government said a list of 1,000 buses submitted by the party to ferry migrant workers contained registration numbers of auto rickshaws, cars and trucks.
Also, records showed that many of the buses in the list did not have valid fitness certificates or insurance papers, the BJP government said, accusing the opposition party of playing with the lives of workers.
The FIR against Lallu and Sandeep Singh, personal secretary to Gandhi, capped a day during which the party traded charges with the Yogi Adityanath government and held a protest at the Rajasthan-UP border.
The FIR charged Lallu, Singh and "others" under Indian Penal Code sections related to cheating and forging documents.
The Congress rejected the UP government claim on its list containing the numbers of other vehicles, challenging it to conduct a physical verification of the buses.
Later, a state government spokesman said about 100 vehicles on the Congress list were not buses.
Of the buses, 297 lacked either a fitness certificate or valid insurance papers. As the war of words escalated, UP Congress chief Lallu and other party workers reached the Agra border, where they argued with policemen and staged a dharna.
Lallu was seen being carried away from the protest site to a car, with four policemen holding his arms and legs. A UP Congress spokesperson said he was taken to a police station in Agra.
According to the Congress, most of its buses are massed at the Rajasthan-Uttar Pradesh border, awaiting permission to cross over into the state's Agra district.
In a tweet in the evening, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra urged that the state government should at least let the buses "found fit" by it to enter the state. She said there were 879 such buses.
"UP government has crossed the limit," she said, accusing it of creating hurdles in an effort to help migrant workers stranded due to the coronavirus lockdown.
She said if the Yogi Adityanath government wishes the Congress can put BJP banners on the buses, but they should be allowed to run.
उत्तर प्रदेश कांग्रेस के प्रदेशाध्यक्ष श्री @AjayLalluINC को ऊंचा नगला बॉर्डर पर यूपी पुलिस द्वारा अलोकतांत्रिक तरीके से गिरफ्तार किया जाना एक शर्मनाक घटना है।
— Nadeem Javed (@nadeeminc) May 19, 2020
सुबह से श्री अजय लल्लू व अन्य साथी, प्रवासी मजदूर भाइयों की सहूलियत के लिए बसें ले कर खड़े थे#आदित्यनाथ_का_अत्याचार pic.twitter.com/3GYlKRLZ01
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Suspected drones observed along IB in Jammu's Samba, being engaged: Army
Jammu, May 12 (PTI): Security forces are engaging suspected drones observed along the International Border in Samba district of Jammu region on Monday, an Army said.
This fresh incident of drone activity along the borderline comes barely hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first address to the nation following Operation Sindoor and the meeting of the DGMOs of India and Pakistan.
The Army, however, said there is no need to be alarmed.
“A small number of suspected drones have been observed near Samba in J&K. They are being engaged,” it said.
In the backdrop of the situation, several areas witnessed blackouts in Samba, Kathua, Rajouri, and Jammu.
Lights were switched off at the cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi and along its track as a precautionary measure, sources said.
On Monday, talks between the DGMOs were held during which issues related to the continuing commitment that both sides must not fire a single shot or initiate any aggressive or inimical action against each other were discussed, the Indian Army said.
It was also agreed that both sides would consider immediate measures to ensure troop reduction along the borders and in forward areas, it added.
The situation remained largely peaceful across Jammu and Kashmir, with no incidents of ceasefire violation reported along the Indo-Pak border Sunday overnight — marking the first calm night after 18 days of hostilities following the Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 people — mostly tourists — dead.
India and Pakistan on Saturday reached an understanding to cease all firing and military actions on land, air, and sea with immediate effect, following four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes that brought the two countries to the brink of full-scale war.
Eighteen days of intense hostilities following the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, which brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war, ended with a ceasefire that restored calm along the Line of Control, the International Border, and the hinterland in Jammu and Kashmir. The Army thwarted Pakistan’s Hamas-style kamikaze drone attacks during the escalation.
Since the night of April 24, hours after India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistani troops repeatedly targeted Indian positions along the LoC — beginning in the Kashmir Valley and quickly expanding to the Jammu region.
The latest hostilities began in the northern districts of Kupwara and Baramulla in the Kashmir Valley, before spreading southwards to Rajouri, Poonch, Akhnoor, and the Pargwal sector along the International Border in Jammu district. The firing affected five border districts — Baramulla, Kupwara, Poonch, Rajouri, and Jammu.
The recent round of cross-border firing further undermined the ceasefire agreement reached in February 2021, which has largely been seen as ineffective due to Pakistan’s frequent violations along the 740-km-long LoC.
The April 22 terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 people — mostly tourists — in Pahalgam’s Baisaran valley, triggered a strong response from the central government.
The India-Pakistan border stretches over 3,300 kilometers, divided into three segments: the International Border (IB), spanning about 2,400 km from Gujarat to Akhnoor in Jammu; the 740-km-long Line of Control (LoC) that divides Jammu and Kashmir; and the 110-km-long Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL), which separates the Siachen Glacier region.
WATCH: OP Sindoor continues. Minutes after PM Speech.
— Rahul Shivshankar (@RShivshankar) May 12, 2025
A small numbers of suspected drones being observed near Samba in J&K. Being engaged . pic.twitter.com/jmGmRkmQ26
