Amar Singh, Paswan detained in Noida

NOIDA: Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan were on Tuesday prevented from going to Ghori Bachhera village to express condolences to the families of the four farmers killed in police firing last week.

Singh, Paswan and Samajwadi Party MP Mohan Singh, who were stopped at the Noida Gate, told the police they wanted to go to the village to mourn the farmers' deaths and to offer them financial help.

"But we did not allow them to go beyond the Noida Gate near the Gautam Buddha statue," said senior superintendent of police (Noida) RK Chaturvedi.

The leaders remained there for two hours and then returned to Delhi.

Ram Vilas Paswan's brother and MP Ram Chandra Paswan and about 35 Lok Janshakti Party workers, however, violated the ban on any gathering of five or more people and proceeded to the village. The police detained them and released them when they agreed to return to Delhi.

Several Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leaders from Noida, arrested on Sunday for violating prohibitory orders, were released from Dasna jail.

Farmers from Ghori Bachhera village in Noida on the outskirts of Delhi had last week held demonstrations seeking better compensation for their land acquired by the Uttar pradesh government. Four of them were killed and many were injured as the police used force to disperse them.