Several Trinamool Congress leaders and activists, including the party's Tripura unit president Asish Lal Sinha, were arrested on Wednesday in the state's Unakoti district as they gathered, violating the COVID restrictions, police said.
The TMC leaders gathered at Gournagar to pay homage to the Youth Congress activists allegedly killed in police firing in Kolkata on this day in 1993 during a rally led by then Congress leader Mamata Banerjee.
"Twenty-one people were arrested as they violated the COVID restrictions and made an unlawful gathering," said Parth Munda, the officer-in-charge of the Kailashahar police station as reported by PTI.
"They were put in a temporary jail. The arrests were made in presence of an Executive Magistrate," he added.
However, Sinha claimed that 82 activists and leaders of the party, including him and TMC's Unakoti district President Anjan Chakraborty, were arrested.
"When I was hoisting the party flag to pay homage to the martyrs at Gournagar, police arrested 82 party leaders and activists," Sinha told PTI.