The Uttar Pradesh police on Friday walked into the studio of a private channel and got into a scuffle with its staff over the custody of a man, who claimed to have seen a "terrorist" park a cycle bomb on the court premises on Friday.

Sunny, who is a cycle parking attendant, said it was a clean-shaven man, wearing a plain white shirt and maroon trousers, who parked the cycle at the stand.

As soon as it started beaming the footage, a police team carrying firearms reached the CNN-IBN and IBN7 studios in upmarket Hazratganj and roughed up some of its reporters, the channel alleged.

Bureau chief Shalabh Mani Tripathi said the police "failed to trace the eyewitness even hours after the blast and tried to prevent the channel from airing his statement".

The TV grab also showed the police entering the studios. Sunny was later handed over to the police for interrogation. Protesting the police "high-handedness", journalists met the city police chief and demanded action.