Climate activist and education reformer Sonam Wangchuk was arrested in Leh on Friday, two days after violent protests over statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh left four people dead and 90 injured, officials said.

Wangchuk was taken into custody around 2:30 pm by a police team led by Ladakh DGP S D Singh Jamwal. It was not immediately clear what charges had been pressed against him.

The arrest comes in the wake of the Union Home Ministry blaming Wangchuk — a senior member of the Leh Apex Body (LAB), which along with the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) has been spearheading the agitation — for allegedly provoking unrest through his speeches.

The ministry accused him of making “provocative statements” including references to “Arab Spring-style protests” and “Gen Z protests in Nepal.”

In an official statement, the ministry said, “A hunger strike was started by Sonam Wangchuk on September 10 stating the demand of (bringing the UT under) 6th schedule (of Constitution) and statehood for Ladakh.”

It further added, “It is well known that Government of India has been actively engaged with Apex Body Leh (ABL) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) on same issues. Series of meetings were held with them through formal channel of high-powered committee as well as sub-committee and multiple informal meetings with leaders.”

Wangchuk, however, has denied the charges. He condemned the violence and ended his 15-day hunger strike on September 24, saying he did not want protests to spiral further.

Speaking to PTI, he said, “We don’t want to be dependent on foreign funds, but we export our knowledge and raise revenue. In three such instances, they thought it was a foreign contribution.”

Adding to the controversy, the Union Home Ministry on Thursday night cancelled the foreign funding licence of Wangchuk’s NGO, Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), with immediate effect. The ministry alleged discrepancies in its accounts, including a transfer from Sweden that it claimed was against “national interest.”

Wangchuk’s other institution, the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh (HIAL), is also under a preliminary CBI probe for alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). A CBI official said investigators had been camping in Ladakh for over a week to scrutinise financial records of both SECMOL and HIAL.

Wangchuk alleged that the scrutiny had gone beyond the original mandate. “Their (CBI officers) mandate was to check for accounts during 2022–24, but they started asking for accounts of 2021 and 2020. Then they went to our school asking for various documents outside their mandate period and a school outside the complaint’s purview,” he claimed.

He also pointed to a pattern of escalating pressure against him in recent months, including a sedition case, a land lease dispute related to HIAL, income tax notices, and a revived complaint about unpaid labourers. “The funny part is, Ladakh is one place where there is no tax. Yet I voluntarily pay taxes, and I get summons. Then they resurrected a four-year-old complaint that labourers were not paid properly. It is guns blazing from all sides at us,” Wangchuk said.

The arrest of the activist and the government’s actions against his organisations have further fueled tensions in the Himalayan region, where demands for statehood and constitutional safeguards continue to resonate strongly among locals.