Police roping in 'sahayaks' for bandobast?

AHMEDABAD: City police organized a major bandobast on Tuesday morning to check the group of dalits protesting against the state government not handing over land allotted to them some 10 years ago.
They rallied in front of the district collector office at RTO Circle and blocked the road. Over 100 policemen were deployed to detain the protesters.
However, among the policemen in khaki, civilians seen 'helping' in the detention of protesters raised eyebrows.
When questioned about civilians aiding in apprehending protesters, Usha Rada, DCP Zone II, said that she was not aware of the matter and would launch a probe to ascertain facts. When policemen were questioned about the civilians, including a woman, helping the police, they were identified as local 'police sahayaks' who 'work closely with policemen' in maintaining law and order. A photograph clearly shows a policeman paying the woman for the 'job' after the detentions.
Police officials said that the protesters did not have permission for the gathering and were creating a law and order problem and thus, they were removed from the road. V B Patel, inspector of Ranip police station, said that a total of 125 protesters were detained and were taken to the city police headquarters. They were later released.