Bhatt, who was in June awarded life sentence in a custodial death case, is currently lodged at the Palanpur district jail.

Congress leader Hardik Patel and two party MLAs were on Wednesday detained while they were on way to Palanpur district prison in Gujarat to meet sacked IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, an official said.

Bhatt, who was in June awarded life sentence in a custodial death case, is currently lodged at the Palanpur district jail.

“We were expecting law and order issues at the jail in Palanpur, so we detained around 30 people, including Hardik Patel, Congress MLAs from Palanpur and Patan and their supporters, when they entered Palanpur to go to the sub-jail to meet Bhatt,” Superintendent of Police Niraj Badgujar said.

The two MLAs who have been detained are Mahesh Patel of Palanpur and Kirit Patel of Patan.