MEERUT, Sept. 21 -- Tension prevailed in Dadri village under Daurala police station limits of Meerut on Sunday after police allegedly used force to disrupt a Gurjar Mahapanchayat and detained several leaders, including Rashtriya Gurjar Samaj Sangharsh Samiti's national president Ravindra Bhati Gurjar.

The Mahapanchayat, convened at Mandaura in Dadri, had drawn leaders and members from Meerut, Saharanpur, Noida, Muzaffarnagar, Hapur, Ghaziabad and other districts of western Uttar Pradesh to discuss issues such as Gurjar rights and political representation. However, police intervened soon after the gathering began, stopping leaders from reaching the venue and taking them into custody.

Eyewitnesses alleged that police used batons to disper...