Samajwadi Party leader Azmi detained

Azmi had gone to seek an audience with CM Vilasrao Deshmukh and brief him about Sunday's attack in Mumbai on SP workers by Raj Thackeray's supporters.

Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi was detained for shouting slogans outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's official residence in Mumbai on Sunday evening.

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Besides Azmi, around 20 Samajwadi Party activists were detained from outside the residence, 'Varsha', in South Mumbai's posh Malabar Hill locality at around 2115 hrs, police said.

Accompanied by the activists, Azmi had gone to seek an audience with Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and brief him about today's attack in Mumbai on SP workers by Raj Thackeray's supporters, Deputy Commissioner of Police Ramrao Pawar said.

Azmi, who did not have an appointment with the CM, began shouting slogans outside the bungalow in the high security zone following which he was detained, he added.

Azmi is the Samajwadi Party's Mumbai and Maharashtra unit President. It was, however, not immediately known if Deshmukh was inside the residence at the time of the incident.