Crowd had become a security scare

Police had to sanitise the area since it falls on the route taken by the Pm and other vvips on their way to the Red Fort.

Entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring an incident-free Independence Day celebrations, the Delhi Police had a tough time handling yoga guru Baba Ramdev and thousands of his supporters.

It took several hours of many rounds of negotiations between senior police officials and the yoga guru to clear the Ambedkar Stadium that sits on the route to the Red Fort, expected to be taken by the VVIPs on their way to the Mughal monument for Independence Day celebrations.

After struggling for over eight hours to control Ramdev and his 5,000 supporters on Monday, a late night meeting with the yoga guru nailed the deal.

"It was difficult to convince him especially after he hit a high getting unprecedented support on Monday. We told him that for Independence Day we need to sanitise the route and crowd is turning a security threat. In the night itself, Ramdev promised to leave the stadium by Tuesday afternoon if we allowed him to stay there for night," said a senior police officer.

The police clearly told the yoga guru that they are well within their legal right to take action against him, as mandated by the Supreme Court. "On Wednesday, the route will be taken by the Prime Minister and other VVIPs. The huge crowd was turning out a security scare," the officer added.

"To make things easier, Ramdev had also arranged over 24 buses to take his supporters away from the stadium. Police had also arranged DTC buses to help people reach bus or railway stations," the officer added.