Maharashtra student alleges minister Tawde ordered his 'arrest'

An undergraduate student in Maharashtra's Amravati district has alleged that state Education Minister Vinod Tawde ordered his arrest when he was recording a conversation between him and a fellow student.

The student, Yuvraj Dabad, further claimed that following the alleged order, the local police detained him for a couple of hours, seized his smartphone and returned it later.

The alleged incident took place after Tawde inaugurated an elocution competition at a college in Amravati on Saturday.

The minister was leaving after his speech at the event, when some students of a journalism course reached out to him near his vehicle, seeking his response on a free-education policy.

Prashant Rathod, a student at the college, said, "I was told by Education Minister Vinod Tawde to start working somewhere if I could not afford the educational expenses. My question to him was whether the state could have a free-education policy."