# Ethanol protest leader Tehseen Poonawalla arrested after talks 2026-08-13T07:42:23+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Delhi Police detained Team Bharat activist Tehseen Poonawalla on Thursday, a day after he met Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri to discuss the ethanol-blended petrol programme. His Instagram account was also suspended. The arrest came ahead of a planned protest against the government's hurried E20 rollout, following the Jantar Mantar clashes that forced Dharmendra Pradhan to resign as education minister. The Hans India reports that Poonawalla had thanked the minister for the meeting but later turned furious, accusing the government of an 'ethanol scam'. The government is moving early to contain backlash over the ethanol programme, avoiding the missteps that escalated student protests recently. Poonawalla, who leads Team Bharat, said he would continue to expose the scam despite the arrest. ## Coverage - thehansindia.com Tags: arrest, ethanol petrol, Hardeep Singh Puri, protest, Team Bharat, Tehseen Poonawalla Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/ethanol-protest-leader-tehseen-poonawalla-arrested-after-talks/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/ethanol-protest-leader-tehseen-poonawalla-arrested-after-talks/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.