Arvind Kejriwal, differently-abled activists held en route to PM's home

Amid high drama, Arvind Kejriwal and about 100 activists, including differently-abledu00a0people, were detained today, after they were stopped from marching towards Prime Minister's residence demanding the resignation of Salman Khurshid alleging irregularities by an NGO run by him.

Kejriwal and around 100 activists of Rashtriya Vikalang Party (RVP) and India Against Corruption marched towards Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Race Course Road residence from Janpath around noon but were prevented from moving ahead after about 50 metres into their march.

Waving tricolour and raising slogans against Khurshid, the protesters sat infront of barricades manned by a large number of police personnel.

India Against Corruption (IAC) activist Arvind Kejriwal (C) is detained by police personnel during a protest against Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid over allegations of irregularities by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) run by him. Pic/AFP

Kejriwal then announced that the day-long protest will now be an indefinite one till Khurshid resigns from the Cabinet. He also demanded the arrest of the Minister and his wife Louise Khurshid, who is the project director of the NGO Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust. However, around 3 pm, police asked the protesters including Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai, to end the protest on the road. They even said that three-four of their leaders could be taken to Prime Minister's residence. But the protestors rejected this offer leading to the polcie detaining them.

Activists, including Kejriwal, whose shirt was torn, alleged that they were manhandled.

Kejriwal was taken to Bawana in a police van while other activists were taken to Parliament Street Police Station. He said now this is a fight to finish and "now let's make this place another Tahrir Square", in a reference to the uprising in Egypt last year which led to the overthrowing of the Hosni Mubarak regime.

Kejriwal-led IAC had been maintaining that it was a protest programme by RVP and they were just guests. But after Kejriwal's protest IAC started sending text messages asking people to join the protest.

Kejriwal claimed he had sought time from the Prime Minister but his office refused to give him and differently-abled activistsu00a0any appointment.

The IAC had alleged financial irregularities in the functioning of the Trust run by Khurshid and his wife Louis, a charge denied by both. Khurshid has also threatened to take Kejriwal to court.u00a0