A man threw ink on the face of yoga guru Ramdev here on Saturday prompting his followers to immediately beat up the attacker severely.

There was high drama during the yoga expert’s press conference at the Constitutional Club when the 40-year-old claiming to be an advocate  threw the black ink on the Baba.

The accused, identified as Kamran Siddiqui, a resident of Zakir Nagar in south east Delhi, was allegedly offended when the yoga guru ignored his question on a judicial probe into the September 19, 2008, Batla House encounter, carried out by the Delhi police.

The incident took place around 1 pm when Ramdev, seated alongside with Janta Party president Subramanian Swamy, was briefing media about his plans to campaign against black money and corruption during the forthcoming assembly elections in five states.

“Kamran was carrying the ink in a Vicks Vapo-Rub ointment bottle and threw it over Baba Ramdev when he deflected his question over the controversial encounter in 2008. He had gained entry into the conference hall by pretending to be a security official,” said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Seju P Kuruvilla.

Kamran was immediately restrained by Baba Ramdev’s supporters and was thrashed for 15-20 minutes before being handed over to the police.

“Kamran’s shirt was torn and his lips were bleeding when we detained him. He was rushed to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for treatment,” said Kuruvilla, adding that the police was questioning the accused to ascertain the motive behind the attack.

A case was later registered at the Parliament Street Police Station against Kamran.

It’s a bid to blacken democracy: Anna

Anna Hazare on Saturday denounced the incident in which Swami Ramdev’s face was smeared with ink as an attempt to “blacken democracy” and said such attacks will not deter “people’s movements”. “This is not an attempt to blacken the face of Swami Ramdev. This is an attempt to blacken democracy,” Hazare said in a statement from his village.