Several injured during police sweep

About 100 people including two dozen cops were hurt in the crackdown

Several injured during police sweep

About 100 people including two dozen cops were hurt in the crackdown

Cops used tear gas and canes to forcibly end the mass hunger strike by yoga guru Baba Ramdev and tens of thousands of his supporters, claiming he did not have permission for his protest against black money and corruption. 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.

Need a lift? Police removing a supporter of Ramdev fromu00a0 Ramlila
Grounds on Sunday morning. Pic/Subhash Barolia

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 microphone 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. After an hour's frantic search, policemen managed to locate Ramdev and then started removing his followers to take him into custody. Protesters formed several human rings around the saffron-robed Ramdev, resisting police efforts to get to him by throwing stones and fighting with officers.

Eyewitness say supporters were forced into vans. "They packed people into ambulances and vans, many were injured. We think they were taken to hospital, but we don't know where they have gone. Children as young as one and two were not spared and they were stuffing people into vans like straw," Kuldip Bhargaw, another supporter, said.

The women, who were guarding their 'guru', were so enraged at the police action that a senior police official had to bear the brunt of heckling while escorting Ramdev out. A police spokesman said permission had been granted for Ramdev to hold a yoga function for 5000 people, ''but more than 40,000 had turned up at the venue, and it was not possible to provide security to them'', Rajan Bhagat told reporters.

Baba creates ripples online
Much like the Anna Hazare agitation that drew huge support on social networking sites and other online forums, the news of police action against Baba Ramdev and his supporters led to focus shifting on him in the yberworld. In fact, the news was one of the most searched items by Indians on Sunday, according to data by Google Trends. Google Trends, the web facility which ranks the most searched topics on the Internet, showed 'Ramdev Arrested' as the second most searched item between Saturday 2 am and Sunday 4 pm.The incident created ripples on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook with young India fiercely expressing its views on the action against yoga guru's satyagraha. An agitated Rahul Walia, 22, posted on social networking site Facebook: "Proud to be an Indian with such brutal death of democracy happening. Isn't the right to freedom of speech and expression our fundamental right?" Noida resident Gaurav Bakshi wrote on Facebook, "Brutal police action at Ramlila Maidan, Swami Ramdev's supporters and satyagrahis lathicharged, tear gas shells lobbed, Sec-144 imposed. This is most shocking development; murder of democracy at midnight."
(Inputs from Shashank Shekhar)