Hindu Sena men detained after Ghulam Ali’s event cancelled

Delhi Police detained several Hindu Sena activists including its chief Vishnu Gupta Monday when they were on their way to allegedly disrupt a music launch event of film ‘Ghar Wapsi’ starring Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali.

Police said the ghazal maestro was called for the music launch at a hotel and Hindu Sena was planning to protest.

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Police said Gupta was picked up near India Gate at about 2 pm when he was traveling in his car. The police also detained other Hindu Sena members, who were released after a while. However, Gupta was held till late night and may face charges under section 65 of the Delhi Police Act, said a police officer. Gupta allegedly threatened Suhaib Illyasi, director of the movie, Sunday for organising the event.

When contacted Gupta said, “I did not threaten Illyasi… We are not against the movie, but sought the cancellation of its music launch.”

PTI quoted Illyasi as saying, “It is regrettable that Ghulam Ali’s music launch has been cancelled by the hotel management. We were told not to keep the event here as they feared that people… would disrupt it and destroy hotel property.”

The music release of ‘Ghar Wapsi’ was cancelled in January following Shiv Sena’s opposition in Mumbai. Ali, 75, whose concerts in India had to be cancelled last year following Sena threats, is making his acting debut with the Hindi feature film set to release in June.