Patna: In a crackdown on top Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) brass, the Bihar government on August 16 bundled off its senior international vice-president Acharya Giriraj Kishore to Delhi within minutes of his arrival, a day after the authorities summarily externed the organisation's international general secretary Praveen Togadia apprehending breach of peace.

Kishore, who arrived at the Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport by an Indian Airlines flight from Delhi on way to Muzaffarpur where he was scheduled to address a state-level VHP workers' conference, was not even allowed to enter the airport terminal building.

Patna District Magistrate Deepak Prasad and city Superintendent of Police O N Bhaskar met him at the tarmac informing him about the ban imposed on his function at Muzaffarpur and asked him to receive the externment order.

A reluctant Kishore expressed his dismay over the government's action and received the order under protest, a top state police official said on condition of anonymity.

The district administration purchased the return ticket for Kishore who was made to board a Sahara Airlines flight to Delhi.

Togadia, who was to participate in the Independence Day celebrations at a school in the communally sensitive Phulwari Sharif area, was also packed off to Delhi from the airport itself by the administration which had banned all his programmes.

Barring bonafide passengers, the airport was out of bounds for all, including the media, and no vehicle was allowed in or out during the stay of Kishore.

PTI