- Delhi Police detained CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das at Delhi airport on Saturday.
- Police boarded the leaders' flight shortly after it landed at IGI airport.
- On Friday, Delhi Police detained around 200 protesters trying to reach Jantar Mantar.
- Dipke said protests will continue until Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resigns.
Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke and two other leaders at Delhi airport on Saturday, ahead of a planned protest at Jantar Mantar.
What happened
Police personnel boarded the CJP leaders’ flight shortly after it landed at IGI airport. Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das were detained.
The three were taken away through a private gate and moved to an undisclosed location.
On Friday, Delhi Police detained around 200 protesters who were trying to reach Jantar Mantar for the proposed CJP stir.
The protest is against alleged voter deletions under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. It has spread from Bengaluru to Delhi. On Thursday, Dipke, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and actor-activist Prakash Raj joined a protest against the SIR at Freedom Park in Bengaluru.
Plans for Jantar Mantar
Dipke said CJP would march to Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on October 10. The march aims to demand that the SIR be scrapped and that accountability be fixed for the alleged voter deletions.
CJP-led antigovernment protests were planned for Saturday, with thousands expected to march to Jantar Mantar, the designated protest site in the capital.
In a pre-recorded video, Dipke said CJP’s national organisation incharge Ajinkya Shinde “will lead this protest at Jantar Mantar” until Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka are in detention.
Ranka and Das are CJP co-conveners alongside Dipke.
At a press conference in Bengaluru, Dipke said Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India and does not belong to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He asked:
“If Mumbai and Bengaluru can have peaceful protests, why is Amit Shah not allowing it in Delhi?”
— Abhijeet Dipke, CJP founder
Demands and next steps
On 8 October, Dipke accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “murdering democracy and vote theft”. He said protests would go on until Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resigns from his post.
The protests are aimed at Kumar’s resignation.
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