Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale, responding to party leaders being detained by Delhi Police on Monday for staging a 24-hour protest outside the Election Commission office, accused the police of kidnapping five party MPs and four former MPs.

Gokhale claimed that the detained delegation was told they would be taken to Mandir Marg police station in Delhi, whereas, the bus was leading them to an unknown location.

In a post on X, Gokhale said, “Delhi Police has kidnapped us 5 TMC MPs & 4 former MPs. We were protesting at EC & were told we’ll be taken to Mandir Marg Police Station. And then, suddenly, the bus has been diverted & going to an unknown location.”

The TMC’s 10-member delegation staged a protest after they met the poll body member. The delegation included — Derek O’Brien, Mohammed Nadimul Haque, Dola Sen, Saket Gokhale and Sagarika Ghose, MLA Vivek Gupta, former MPs Arpita Ghosh, Santanu Sen and Abir Ranjan Biswas, and party’s students’ wing West Bengal vice president Sudip Raha.

Gokhale further said in his post, “Note this – 5 SITTING MPs & 4 former MPs assaulted, detained, & now being illegally taken to some unknown place by @DelhiPolice.”

After being detained, O’Brien said, speaking to reporters, “We are here to fight. We will carry on our peaceful protest…This is 100% dictatorship but we are from TMC, we will fight this.”

Ghose, while protesting, said that the TMC delegation urged the EC to ensure that there is a level-playing field in Lok Sabha elections and stop any misuse of central agencies against opposition leaders.

TMC alleged that several party leaders were pushed around and MP Dola Sen sustained injuries in her leg, PTI reported.

The Mamata Banerjee-led party has continuously accused central probe agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the National Investigation Agency (NIA), and the Income Tax (I-T) Department of unfairly targeting opposition parties on behalf of the BJP-led Centre.

The detention took place as section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, prohibiting large gatherings, was in effect in the area, and no permission was obtained for the protest, a police officer told PTI.