Delhi Police detained more than 1,100 people and closed 46 Metro stations as security was tightened across the capital ahead of a proposed protest at Jantar Mantar by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) against the Election Commission and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
CJP leader Abhijeet Dipke, along with fellow party leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, was detained at Indira Gandhi International Airport after arriving in Delhi on Saturday. In videos shared by the party on X, Dipke alleged that police personnel entered the aircraft and attempted to take him into custody. A police personnel heard in one of the videos responded that it was not an arrest and asked him to cooperate.
Dipke accused the authorities of suppressing a peaceful protest and compared the alleged action to the Emergency imposed under former prime minister Indira Gandhi. His statements were made in videos released by the party and have not been independently verified in the report.
The CJP had called the protest to demand Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. The party’s legal head, Ratna Singh, also claimed that police personnel had arrived at her residence and told her that they had orders to detain her. She said the personnel asked her to leave her car and remain at home, and questioned the absence of an official notification.
Youtuber Dhruv Rathee was also detained from his residence in Sector 56, Gurgaon, according to the report. Delhi Police said more than 1,100 people had been detained so far, including around 600 taken into preventive detention and more than 500 detained from different parts of the city.
The scale of the operation affected the capital’s transport network. The New Delhi district was divided into 20 operational zones, each with designated detention centres, while police personnel were deployed at multiple locations. Entry points into Delhi were placed under heightened surveillance, and 46 Metro stations were closed as part of the security arrangements.
The measures were intended to prevent a recurrence of protests witnessed on July 20, according to the report. The closures and surveillance affected movement through central Delhi, where Jantar Mantar is located and where demonstrations are subject to security and access controls.
The incident highlights how political demonstrations in central Delhi can quickly become a citywide mobility and policing operation. Preventive detention, restrictions around protest locations and the closure of Metro stations directly affect commuters who are not participating in the demonstration, while the competing claims over the legality of the detentions remain part of the public dispute.
The report did not provide details of the duration of the detentions, the specific legal provisions used in each case, or a Delhi Police response to the allegations made by CJP members. The security deployment and transport restrictions were continuing as authorities prepared for the proposed protest at Jantar Mantar.
