The National President of Swaraj India Yogendra Yadav was arrested by Tamil Nadu Police today. He alleged the police stopped him on his way to meet farmers and manhandled him. The incident took place at Tiruvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu.
Yogendra Yadav was on his way to meet the farmers to oppose the proposal of Rs. 10,000 crore for the eight lane Salem Chennai expressway project. The Tamil Nadu (TN) police stopped him and detained him at the Chengam Police Station in Tiruvannamalai district.
Mr. Yadav said, “TN police has detained me and team in Chengam PS, Thiru Annamalai district. We came on the invitation of Movement Against 8Lane Way. We were prevented from going to meet farmers, phones snatched, manhandled and pushed into a police van.(sic.)”
According to sources, the Tamil Nadu Police denied all the allegation and said that they arrested Mr. Yadav as he did not seek permission for any programme in the district. Whereas, Yogendra Yadav said that he talked to Collector of Tiruvannamalai Kandasaamy, and complained about the acquisition of land for the expressway project. Mr. Yadav said that Mr. Kandasaamy clearly denied any police interference.
The expressway has been facing issues from the opposition parties. A section of locals including farmers fear that they might lose their land due to the construction of the expressway. Environmentalist have also joined the protest to fight the cutting of trees to make way for this project.
