File photo of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
Hours after the midnight arrest of protesting students at Pune's Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, stepped into the row with an unusual offer made in a series of tweets.
A little after 1 am on Tuesday night, five FTII students were arrested and taken to a police station following a complaint by the institute's director, Prashant Pathrabe.
Mr Pathrabe had filed a First Information Report or FIR naming 17 students, including two girls, for holding him in his cabin for nearly seven hours on Monday and refusing to let him go until they were heard. The director finally called in the police, after which students claim they were mistreated and manhandled.
The students have been on strike for over two months in protest against the appointment of a TV actor, Gajendra Chauhan, as the institute's chairman.
The confrontation between FTII students and the government has been seized by political parties like the Congress and Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi last week took a delegation of party lawmakers to President Pranab Mukherjee on behalf of the protesting students.
Congress leader Manish Tewari condemned last night's arrests.