AAP spokersperson Ashutosh seen during clashes with BJP workers in New Delhi on Wednesday
Prominent Aam Aadmi Party leaders Ashutosh and Shazia Ilmi have been named in a first information report or FIR filed in connection with the pitched street battle between supporters of AAP and those of the BJP in the capital on Wednesday.
Thirty people have been detained, 14 have been arrested, all of them AAP supporters.
Here are the latest developments in this story:
The FIR accuses the AAP leaders and supporters of initiating the clash outside the BJP headquarters in the heart of Delhi, in which 28 people were injured. It lists charges of rioting, preventing public servants from performing their duty, damaging public property, and causing hurt.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, who began Day 2 of his tour of Gujarat, said this morning about the FIR, "They will do this, we have to be prepared. But I maintain that we should remain non-violent." He had made a public appeal last evening for his supporters to stay calm. "For any role that our workers played in this evening's violence, I offer my apology," he had added, though he accused the BJP of instigating the violence.
The violence on Wednesday broke out after AAP workers gathered at the BJP's Delhi office to protest against Mr Kejriwal's brief detention by the police in Radhanpur town of BJP-ruled Gujarat.
Journalist-turned-politician Ashutosh, who will contest the general elections next month, was seen climbing the gate of the BJP office and tearing down posters. Stones were hurled and chairs were flung from within the BJP headquarters. Similar street battles took place in Lucknow.
Delhi Police will include its FIR in a report to the Election Commission on yesterday's violence; a model code of conduct kicked in after elections were announced yesterday.
No BJP worker or leader has been named in the Delhi Police FIR.
"They are making false allegations on us through tweets... Ashutosh, Prashant Bhushan specifically asked for my arrest," BJP member Nalin Kohli told NDTV.
Mr Kejriwal was detained yesterday at a police station by Gujarat officials who said they wanted to check if he had violated the code of conduct which makes prior police permission necessary for rallies. They later accepted that he had not.
As the AAP chief, who is on a four-day tour of Gujarat, drove through Kutch later in the evening, his car was attacked by protesters and the windshield was smashed. Mr Kejriwal has alleged that the protesters raised slogans against him and in praise of Narendra Modi, the BJP's candidate for prime minister.
Mr Kejriwal has dedicated his Gujarat trip to auditing Mr Modi's claims of the uber-development of the state he has governed since 2001. The AAP leader has attributed what he describes as his harassment in Gujarat to the orders of Mr Modi. (Read)
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