Rajagopal's was a preventive arrest: Police

Congress MP L Rajagopal was taken into custody on Monday only to maintain law and order in the city as he wanted to walk up to the assembly from the airport, ahead of his proposed fast-unto-death, a senior police official said

Congress MP L Rajagopal was taken into custody on Monday only to maintain law and order in the city as he wanted to walk up to the assembly from the airport, ahead of his proposed fast-unto-death, a senior police official said.

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"The decision to arrest the MP was taken after careful thought. He wanted to walk up to the assembly. It would had become a rally. We took him into custody only to avoid any law and order issue," IGP A R Anuradha told reporters.

The MP had got his supporters reach the city ahead of his fast and several of them have been picked up, she said. "Had he planned to go with three or four persons, it would not have been a problem. It was only a preventive arrest," she said.

Rajagopal was taken into custody at the airport early in the day after his arrival from New Delhi ahead of his proposed fast-unto-death against the division of Andhra Pradesh.

Several government offices, including a BSNL office at Rajahmundry, a Registrar office at Chittoor, a post office in Kadapa, have been damaged by the protesters, she said.