Activist supporting women's entry into Sabarimala detained ahead of PM's Shirdi visit

Women's rights activist Trupti Desai, who had threatened to block Prime Minister Narendra Modi's convoy at Shirdi town in Maharashtra, was detained by police here Friday morning, reported news agency ANI.

Desai, president of Bhumata Ranragini Brigade, has been batting for women's entry into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.

She said that she wrote a letter to SP Ahmednagar yesterday demanding to meet PM Modi to discuss Sabrimala temple issue ahead of his Shirdi visit today. She had also threatened to stop his convoy if he doesn't meet.

Police detained Desai when she was about to leave for Shirdi today morning. 

"Today, before she could leave Pune for Shirdi (in neighbouring Ahmednagar district), officials from Sahakarnagar police station took her into preventive custody," a senior police official said.

"She was taken into police custody early in the morning as she had threatened to disrupt PM's visit in Shirdi," the official said adding that she has been currently kept under detention at Sahakar Nagar police station.

Desai said that it is her constitutional right to protest and alleged that she was stopped at her home. 

''It is an attempt to suppress our voice,'' she said. 

Modi is on a visit to Shirdi on Friday, where he is set to take part in functions to mark the conclusion of the year-long Saibaba Samadhi centenary programme organised by the Sai temple trust. He will also hand over keys of houses to some beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

A few days back, Desai had sought a meeting with the PM in Shirdi to discuss the Sabarimala issue and warned that if she was not allowed to meet him, her outfit would block his convoy.