New Delhi: Ahead of his protest march and hunger strike against the government’s E20 petrol policy, activist Tehseen Poonawalla took to social media on Saturday, August 1, to allege that the Delhi Police had put him under house arrest.
Poonawalla put out several videos on X showing cops at his doorstep.
“I am being arrested at GK1 .
No crime agaisnt me no papers, no documents ..nothing!” he says in one of them.
“An entire battalion of Delhi Police, including women officers, has put me under house arrest! Nitin Gadkari is scared of ethanol,” Poonawalla tweeted. In another video, the activist is seen asking a police officer how he could be detained without any documents.
“Azaadi ke 15 din pehle aap mujhe detain kar rahe (I am being detained 15 days before Independence Day),” Poonawalla can be heard telling a cop. To this, the police officer said that his protest march might create a law and order situation and requested him to cooperate.
E20 protest
Poonawalla had announced on Friday, July 31, that he would undertake a “solo” walk to Gandhi Smriti, observe a silent protest, and launch a hunger strike against the policy. The announcement followed the denial of permission for his ‘Gaadi March’ the same day.
A day before that, he claimed his Instagram account was suspended.
Right after the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest over NEET exam paper leaks, which saw the then Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan eventually step down, Poonawalla has been raising the E20 issue.
The government’s rollout of E20 petrol, which is a blend of 80% petrol and 20% ethanol, has been sharply criticised by the Opposition and consumer groups alike.
Poonawalla led the first protest against E20 on July 5.
