Police in Tripura have detained 23 members of poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) at a city hotel since a little after Sunday midnight. They are not being allowed to leave the hotel. Police said they were verifying their documents and ascertaining the motive for their visit.

Hotel sources said police personnel stormed into the premises at around 1am on Monday and demanded to see the hotel register. After identying the I-PAC team, police called a few of the team members and asked them to come down for an interaction but they declined, the hotel staff claimed.

“A large team of armed police parked themselves in the hotel lobby at night and declared that the I-PAC team cannot move out of the hotel until their investigation was over. Police informed us that we can only be allowed to go to the airport. They told us none of our activities in Tripura is permitted,” an I-PAC team member said. The I-PAC team came to the state four days ago on a week-long visit for a baseline study of the prospects of TMC.

(With inputs from agencies)