Police on Wednesday evening "picked up" around 29 people from a popular Durga Puja marquee in south Kolkata, where they were distributing leaflets regarding the ongoing junior doctors’ protests demanding justice for the RG Kar hospital victim, an officer said.

They were brought to the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar from the Tridhara Sammilani Puja at Deshapriya Park, he said.

While the police maintained they were common people showing solidarity with the medics, the junior doctors insisted that the ones “picked up” were their colleagues.

Following the development, several other medics, protesting near Dharmatala, where seven doctors are on a fast-unto-death, started a rally towards Lalbazar when they were stopped by police on Bentinck Street.

The agitators sat on the road and started a demonstration, demanding the unconditional immediate release of their "colleagues".

"We were not told by the police why they had brought our colleagues to Lalbazar. This is nothing but atrocity. We will not leave unless our friends are released," one of the junior doctors said.

Before reaching Deshapriya Park, the "agitating medics" had distributed the leaflets and held a symbolic protest at another popular Durga Puja in south Kolkata's Maddox Square.

"We had planned to distribute such leaflets at several crowd-puller marquees in the city... There was no problem in Maddox Square. We see no reason to harass our colleagues," another young doctor said.

Meanwhile, security was tightened around Lalbazar area to prevent any untoward incident.

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