Top VHP leaders held

• Togadia, Singhal among 1,696 arrested
• VHP launches Chaurasi Kosi Parikrama Yatra
• Akhilesh govt vows not to let yatra proceed

Ayodhya/Lucknow (PTI): Top VHP leaders Pravin Togadia and Ashok Singhal were on Sunday arrested in a massive crackdown by the UP administration to enforce its ban on the controversial yatra which was symbolically inaugurated by the saffron outfit in Ayodhya.

As the VHP was adamant to complete its 84 Kosi Parikrama Yatra, the UP government said security arrangements would continue to check those trying to attend the banned yatra even as 1,696 persons, including Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia, were arrested in a crackdown. All those arrested would be put in the judicial custody for the next 14 days and not be released as of now, police said.

While Togadia was arrested from Ayodhya, Singhal was taken into custody at Lucknow airport. Singhal, who arrived from New Delhi with Swamy Ram Bhadracharya, was arrested when he insisted on visiting Ayodhya, officials said in Lucknow.

Soon after his arrest from Golaghat area in Ayodhya, Togadia said demonstrations would be staged all over the country on Monday against the ban by the UP government on the 'Chaurasi Kosi Parikrama Yatra'.

Earlier setting the stage for a confrontation with the UP government, Nritya Gopal Das of Ram Janmbhoomi symbolically inaugurated the yatra by walking ten steps outside his temple before he was detained. Besides Togadia and Singhal, the administration has arrested over 500 people including a former BJP MP and a sitting MLA. Ahead of the start of the yatra, former BJP MP Ram Vilas Vedanti and sitting MLA Ram Chandra Yadav were arrested.