Youth Congress protests outside Rajnath's residence

Protest alleged 'political espionage' of Rahul Gandhi by Delhi police

Scores of Youth Congress workers today protested outside the residence of Home Minister Rajnath Singh over the alleged "political espionage" of Rahul Gandhi by Delhi police.

Youth Congress claimed that two of its workers were injured in police action.

Police on the other hand said that they used minimum force to deter the protesters who were trying to break the barricades and barge in. The protesters were then detained and taken to Parliament Street Police Station.

"Two Youth Congress workers Indrani Mishra and Sidhartha Kundu were injured in the police action as we were protesting outside the Home Minister's residence," Youth Congress President Amrinder Singh Raja told PTI after the protests.

Senior party leader Ambika Soni later visited Parliament Police Station, where the protesting Youth Congress workers were taken for detention.

The protest came after the Congress accused the Narendra Modi government of carrying out "political espionage" on Rahul Gandhi claiming his staff had caught a Delhi Police official seeking "unwarranted and weird" enquiries about him.

Delhi Police however rejected the allegation of snooping on Rahul and said the visit by policemen to his office was a routine practise of being in touch with the dignitaries and there was no malafide in it.

Police Commissioner B S Bassi said such surveys were conducted at the offices of all protected persons from time to time owing to prevention and detection of crime and maintaining of law and order.

Declaring that the issue of "snooping and surveillance" on Gandhi would be raised in Parliament, the party demanded a "comprehensive explanation from no less than the Home Minsiter and the Prime Minister" rejecting the police claim that the episode was merely a security issue.