New Delhi: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi remained in detention here on Friday, five hours after she was driven to a guest house after insisting on proceeding to Sonebhadra district in Uttar Pradesh where 10 people were killed in caste violence.
Congress sources said the authorities in Mirzapur were trying to persuade Gandhi to sign a bond and return to Delhi but she had refused, firm on going to the site where the killings took place in a clash between Gonds and Gujjars on Wednesday.
Gandhi was detained at the Chunar Guest House here after she was stopped from going to Murtiya village in Sonebhadra district. The police denied that she had been arrested.
The Congress leader arrived in Varanasi on Friday morning and met the injured persons admitted to the Trauma Centre at the Banaras Hindu University.
When she proceeded towards Sonebhadra, her convoy was stopped on the Mirzapur border.
A defiant Gandhi then squatted on the grounds with Congress workers and was later taken away in a government vehicle to Chunar.
She told reporters: "I don't know where are they taking me. We are ready to go anywhere."
Gandhi asked the officials for written orders on why she was being prevented from going to Sonebhadra.
"I just want to meet the families of the victims. I am willing to take only four people with me because I do not want to defy the prohibitory orders and yet the district administration is not allowing us," she complained.