Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke was released on conditional bail on Saturday after signing a peace bond, following his detention by Delhi Police over a proposed ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ march at Connaught Place. Police had served him a notice prohibiting the march on Friday, but Dipke refused to accept the restriction, according to a report by The Indian Express.
Dipke was detained after stepping out of the Karol Bagh residence of Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) spokesperson Anish Gawande at around 4.50 pm. He was wearing a white T-shirt carrying a photograph of Mahatma Gandhi. Five minutes after leaving the house, he was picked up by police.
The report said Dipke asked police, “I am alone. Why are you stopping me?” He then took out the Tricolour and unfurled it before police personnel pushed him into a police van. He was subsequently taken away.
His release came after he signed a peace bond. The report did not specify the bond’s amount, the exact conditions imposed on him or the legal provisions used for his detention. It also did not include a response from Delhi Police to the allegations made by the CJP or other groups.
The detention had led to uncertainty over Dipke’s whereabouts on Friday. The Cockroach Janta Party alleged that police had taken him to an undisclosed location and that he had not been allowed to speak to lawyers. The party also said it had lost contact with him after the detention.
In a letter to the station house officer of Mandir Marg police station, CJP leader Rohan Deshpande sought confirmation of Dipke’s location, the legal provisions invoked and the grounds communicated for what he described as preventive detention. “Since his detention, we have received no information regarding his present location or the police station or facility where he is being held,” Deshpande wrote, according to the report.
The episode also drew a response from the All India Students’ Association. The organisation said its president Neha Bora had been traced to the RK Puram police station after hours of uncertainty over her location. In a post on X, AISA questioned why Bora was being held at a police station until midnight and asked when she would be released.
The proposed march at Connaught Place placed the dispute within one of Delhi’s most prominent public spaces, where police restrictions can directly determine whether a political gathering proceeds. The report, however, did not provide the police’s stated reasons for prohibiting the march or clarify whether the event had been formally permitted earlier.
Dipke’s conditional release shifts the immediate issue from his detention to the terms of the peace bond and the legal basis for the restriction on the march. The supplied report does not state whether the CJP has received a formal written explanation from Delhi Police or whether the proposed demonstration will be rescheduled.
