Sabarimala row: Activist Trupti Desai detained by Pune police on her way to Shirdi to meet PM Modi

NEW DELHI: Activist Trupti Desai was detained by police from her house on Friday morning as she was on her way to Shirdi. Police personnel were deployed from late night outside Trupti Desai's house. The activist was demanding a meeting with the Prime Minister. On Thursday, she also wrote a letter to SP Ahmednagar demanding to arrange a meeting with Narendra Modi to discuss Sabrimala issue and had also threatened to stop PM convoy if she doesn't meet him. Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to visit Shirdi and is expected to participate in functions to mark the conclusion of the year-long Saibaba Samadhi centenary programme organised by the Sai temple trust. PM is also expected to perform groundbreaking ceremony for some projects of the trust, including the new "darshan" queue shelter to be constructed in the Sai temple. On being detained by police, Desai said “police force was already here today morning when we were about to leave for Shirdi. It is wrong.” She further added “It is our Constitutional right to protest. We are being stopped at home only. It is an attempt to suppress our voice through Modi ji.” There have been protests by devotees opposing the entry of girls and women of menstrual age into the Lord Ayyappa temple. Cases have been registered against devotees who allegedly prevented her trekking and forced her to climb down the hills. Earlier on Thursday, the New Delhi-based woman journalist was stopped midway by devotees opposing the entry of women of menstrual age into the hill shrine. The Sabarimala temple, located on the mountain ranges of the ecologically fragile Western Ghats, opened yesterday for the first time after the recent apex court order, allowing entry of women of all age groups there. The shrine is scheduled to close on October 22 after the five-day monthly puja during the Malayalam month of Thulam.