TIL Desk/National/Mumbai/ Yashwant Sinha, former union minister, was detained by the police in Maharashtra’s Akola on Monday evening during a farmers’ protest against government “apathy” in the Vidarbha region, a senior official said.
“We detained Sinha and around 250 farmers outside the district collectorate as per provisions of section 68 of the Bombay Police Act,” Akola district Superintendent of Police Rakesh Kalasagar told.
Those detained were taken to the Akola district police headquarters ground, the official said. Mr Sinha, along with hundreds of farmers, was protesting against what they alleged was government apathy towards cotton and soybean cultivators outside the Akola district collector’s office.
“We are trying to convince Mr Sinha that the government is sensitive towards farmers’ issues. We have told him that if he wishes, he is free to leave,” district collector Asit Kumar Pandey told.
Mr Pandey said the former union minister was insisting that First Information Reports (FIRs) be lodged against bogus Bt cotton companies. The government has already taken strict action and filed FIRs against six such companies, he said.
