Engineer and social activist Sonam Wangchuk, the Ladakhi whose life story inspired the cult Bollywood film 3 Idiots, was detained by the police in Leh on Friday.

The Centre accused Wangchuk, a Ramon Magsaysay Award recipient, of instigating the violent protests in Leh on Wednesday that led to police firing, leaving four people dead and five others injured.

While Sonam Wangchuk is a well-known figure in Ladakh, he rose to national prominence when Bollywood actor Aamir Khan portrayed a character inspired by him in the 2009 film 3 Idiots. Aamir’s character, Phunsukh Wangdu, popularly known as Rancho, was depicted as a brilliant and inquisitive engineering student who mentors his classmates at the Imperial College of Engineering (ICE).

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