Sengar was in Tis Hazari lock-up when police-lawyers clash broke out

Expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, accused in the Unnao rape case, was lodged in the lock-up at the Tis Hazari court complex here when the clash between lawyers and police personnel broke out last week, officials said.

Besides Sengar, there were 154 undertrials in the lock-up, they said.

According to a senior police officer, two high-risk undertrials -- Feroz and Javed -- were among those in the lock-up.

Sengar was brought from Tihar Jail, where he is currently lodged, to the lock-up in the court premises on Saturday morning and then produced before the district judge around 10:30 am for a hearing in the case, said a lawyer.

"There was fire in front of the lock-up gate and due to smoke, police personnel and undertial prisoners started to suffocate. The personnel, along with sewadars, threw water on the fire and doused it before it could turn into a big tragedy," the police officer said.

Sewadars are the inmates who are lodged in jail for crimes that are not heinous. They accompany undertrial prisoners to courts to serve them jail food.

Sengar had appeared in the courtroom of District Judge Dharmesh Sharma. He was taken out around 7 pm when paramilitary forces arrived, the lawyer said.

He returned to the jail premises around 8 pm, he said.

A parking dispute between an on-duty policeman and a lawyer had triggered the clash, leaving 20 police personnel and several advocates injured.