A tense standoff between Delhi Police and Himachal Pradesh Police unfolded over the arrest of Youth Congress activists involved in a protest, resulting in a nightlong deadlock and accusations of obstructing justice.
Would a cup of tea have eased the impasse any sooner between the Delhi Police and its Himachal Pradesh counterpart in Shimla last week?
No one knows. But the drink was on an officer's mind before the team was allowed to return to the national capital with its arrests.
"You obstructed our work, detained us for the whole night, could have asked us for a tea at least," were the last words of an officer to Himachal police before finally leaving for Delhi on the morning of Thursday from the Shoghi border, 15 km from Shimla.
Hearing this, a journalist, present on the spot at the Shogi border, stepped forward and asked the officer for tea, to which he said: "Thank you, but we would leave now."
The exchange came following a nightlong deadlock between the two forces in Shimla over the arrest of three people in connection with a 'shirtless protest' at AI Impact Summit.
At length, the Delhi Police team was cleared to head back to the national capital along with the three Youth Congress activists.
The impasse ended with the Delhi police sharing a copy of the seizure memo with its Himachal Pradesh counterpart. Although they did not share the digital evidence, the memo listed the evidence in their possession related to the case.
Shimla police would need to submit a written request if they anything else, they added.
"Once the credentials were checked after interception, the HP police should have let them go," a retired director general of police told PTI on Friday.
The Delhi police should have also informed the local police station after the arrest was made, he added.
On Wednesday, a team of Delhi police arrested three activists of the Youth Congress from a hotel in Chirgaon in the Rohru area of Shimla district.
However, it was intercepted by the local police and brought back to Shimla and taken to a local court.
The same evening, when the team again tried to transport the accused to Delhi, they were again stopped at Shoghi and a case of abduction, concealment of property, wrongful confinement and unlawful assembly.
The three Youth Congress activists, Saurabh Singh, Arbaz, and Siddharth, were reportedly from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Both the Shimla and Delhi police accused one another of obstructing the investigation.