Priyanka Gandhi allowed to go to Agra

Lucknow, Oct 20 (IANS) Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has finally been granted permission to go to Agra after being detained for nearly two hours in Lucknow.

The Congress leader has been allowed to proceed to Agra with four persons since Section 144 is in place.

She has left for Agra with Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Kumar Lallu, Acharya Pramod Krishnam and Deepak Singh, MLC.

Earlier, she told reporters, "Wherever I go, they stop me. Now they are saying that I cannot go to Agra. Should I sit in a restaurant because it suits them politically?"

The Congress leader said that she will go to Agra and meet the family of Arun Valmiki who allegedly died in custody.

She was earlier detained by Lucknow Police at the Lucknow Expressway while she was travelling to Agra to meet the family of a Dalit man who died in police custody.

Her car was stopped at the first toll plaza on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway.

Earlier this month, she was detained in Sitapur while she was on her way to Lakhimpur to meet families of farmers killed on October 3.

After she was stopped, Priyanka Gandhi tweeted: "What is the government so afraid of? Arun Valmiki died in police custody. His family is seeking justice. I want to visit that family. What is the Uttar Pradesh government afraid of? Why am I being stopped? Today is Lord Valmiki Jayanti... Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke big on Buddha but this is attacking his message."

The police spokesman said that the Congress leader was stopped as she did not have the requisite permissions.

In a video of the conversation between the Congress leader and the police, she can be heard asking: "Wherever I go, do I have to ask for permission?" to which the officer says it is a "law and order issue".

In another visual, Priyanka Gandhi is seen posing for selfies with a few women police officers as party workers can be heard shouting in the background.

Earlier on Wednesday, Arun Valmiki, a 'safai karamchari', who had been arrested in connection with the theft of Rs 25 lakh from the police strong room, died after his health deteriorated during interrogation.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Agra Muniraj G said he fell sick on Tuesday night while a raid was being carried out at his house. He was then taken to a hospital but doctors declared him dead, he said.

Arun was accused of stealing the money on Saturday night from a building that served as the police station's evidence locker, and where he worked as a cleaner.

Arun's family claimed that he died due to custodial torture.