Kolkata/IBNS/UNI: Indian Secular Front (ISF) supporters Tuesday took out a rally in the city and its outskirts to protest against the arrest of the party Chairman and lone legislator Pirzada Mohammad Naushad Siddique on his way to conflict-hit Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas, official sources said.

The city police stopped his vehicle in the Science City area in south Kolkata and then took him in a prison van to its headquarters Lalbazar.

A senior police officer said Siddique was rounded up (preventive arrest) apprehending law and order problems in Sandeshkhali, where prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Penal Code are in force in several areas.

Thirty-one-year-old Chairman of the ISF Naushad Siddique said he planned to visit Basanti and Sandeshkhali to meet the people there.

Siddique asked the policemen why they were preventing him from proceeding to Sandeshkhali, some 80 km away from the point of arrest.

The ISF leader asked why the Chief Minister was scared of opposition leaders visiting Sandeshkhali while the ruling party leaders and ministers were allowed to go there.

The legislator from Bhangar alleged that he was arrested in the city on the pretext of the prohibitory orders at Sandeshkhali.

Meanwhile, the ISF supporters held protest demonstrations at different places condemning the arrest and demanding the immediate release of their leader.