Delhi Police told the Supreme Court today that the midnight crackdown on Ramdev and his followers at the Ramlila ground during their protest against corruption was a result of the mess created by them and that the yoga guru should take responsibility for it.

The Police also justified the involvement of Home Minister P Chidambaram for maintaining the law and order situation at the venue.

The Police said that malafide cannot be attributed to the Home Minister as he was obviously worried when the gathering exceeded the capacity and his action was constitutionally permissible.

Appearing before a Bench comprising justices B S Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar, Senior advocate Harish Salve said, the police had gone there to give Ramdev certain reasons as to why the permission for holding protest, had to be cancelled but he jumped and started running away, for which he has to take responsibility.

Delhi Police was responding to the sharp reactions of the apex court which had asked it to explain the reasons for not waiting till the morning of June 5.

Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Bharat Swabhiman Trust headed by Ramdev, had alleged that the midnight crackdown was an attempt to crush the peaceful protest.