As Singh walked up to the rostrum to make his speech, 32-year-old Santosh Kumar Suman, a member of the Supreme Court Bar Association, stood on the desk, took off his shirt and shouted, "Prime Minister, go back. Roll back diesel prices."
The incident took place at the high security Vigyan Bhawan where Singh was attending a 'Conference on Economic Growth in Asia and Changes of Corporate Environment' which was attended by Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia, Law Minister Salman Khurshid and a number of legal luminaries from across Asia.
The Prime Minister waited for a while at the rostrum as security officials took the protestor out of the plenary hall of Vigyan Bhawan.
A senior police official said Suman, who resides in east Delhi's Shakarpur locality, gained entry to the venue using a "proper" invitation card.
"The Special Protection Group (SPG) handed him over to us. He is under detention," the official said.
He said the lawyer was likely to be let off after questioning.
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The police said that Suman was a member of the Delhi unit of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Apparently embarrassed by his partyman's actions, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, a constituent of the ruling UPA coalition, disbanded the Delhi unit of the party.
Prasad's arch-rival and JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav praised the lawyer by terming his action as 'satyagraha' which gave vent to the angst against the government's "so-called reform measures".