The wrestlers have held a sit-in for more than a month at Jantar Mantar in the heart of the Indian capital.

They planned today’s march to coincide with the inauguration of the new Parliament by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"They broke the barricades and didn’t follow police directions," senior Delhi Police officer Dependra Pathak said following the arrests.

"They broke the law, and that’s why they were detained."

The wrestlers had originally begun protesting in the streets in January demanding action against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has denied allegations of sexually harassing several female athletes.

The group briefly halted their protests after Singh, also a Member of Parliament as part of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, was stripped of all administrative powers by India’s Sports Ministry.

The wrestlers resumed their protest on April 23 demanding Singh’s arrest and have since been camping near the new Parliament building which Modi inaugurated today.

Sakshi Malik, winner of the Olympic bronze medal in the women’s 58 kilograms freestyle bronze at Rio 2016, shared photos and a video on social media of the wrestlers being dragged away by the police during today’s march.

"This is how our champions are being treated," she wrote on Twitter.

"The world is watching us."

Even before the start of the march today, Malik and three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat had claimed that their supporters were being arrested by the police.

"To all my international fraternity, our Prime Minister is inaugurating our new Parliament," Malik said.

"But on the other hand, our supporters have been arrested for supporting us.

"By arresting people, how can we call us 'mother of democracy'?"

Indian Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur had asked in January for Singh to step aside and help in carrying out an investigation.

He also promised a committee would be set up to investigate the allegations and a report would be released in four weeks.

Singh continues to head the WFI and no report has been released in the months since.

He has denied the accusations and called the protests "politically motivated" by the opposition Congress party.

The wrestlers have warned they will continue protesting until Singh is arrested.

Protests have grown over the past few weeks, with many members of opposition parties and farmer unions taking up the wrestlers' cause.

Before the start of today’s march, Punia had explained the wrestlers’ motivation.

"We're fighting for our self-respect," the Tokyo 2020 65kg bronze medallist said.

"They're inaugurating the new Parliament building today, but murdering democracy in the country.

"We appeal to the administration to release our people detained by police."