1st LD Writethru: Indian police detain Rahul Gandhi

Indian police Wednesday detained Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi, who is also the main opposition Congress party's second-in-command, for trying to enter a state-run hospital to meet family members of a retired army man who allegedly committed suicide Tuesday.

The 65-year-old former Indian Army personnel, Ram Kishen Grewal, took his own life on the lawns of a government building in the national capital Tuesday. In a suicide note, he said he did not get the hiked pension promised to him by the central government under its One Rank One Pension scheme.

When Gandhi went to the hospital where autopsy of Grewal's body was carried out, the Delhi Police detained him, along with several senior Congress leaders, bundled into a bus and taken to a police station, accusing the politicians of obstructing hospital work.

Earlier in the day, Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was also detained by the Delhi Police outside the same hospital when he had tried to meet the family members of the dead. He was, however, freed after some time.

Coming under heavy criticism that the central government has been misusing Delhi Police, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, "I don't have anything to say, police will do what it has to for risk reduction."

One Rank One Pension is a long-standing demand of retired Army personnel, which grants them pension parity with officers and soldiers of the same rank. It was one of the pre-poll issue of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Endit