Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janata Party members Abhijeet Deepke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka from inside a flight at Indira Gandhi International Airport on October 10, according to a report by Live Hindustan – NCR and a video shared by the party. The group had planned to demonstrate at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, but police had not granted permission for the protest, the report said.
The video, which the party posted on its X account, shows male and female police personnel entering the aircraft and asking the three men to accompany them. Deepke is shown objecting to the detention and saying that the officers had come to arrest them directly from the flight. He also questioned how the country was being governed and described the action as “dictatorship”, according to the report’s translation of his remarks.
The footage shows Deepke and Ranka repeatedly asking that male officers be brought forward. The women officers are heard requesting them to cooperate before taking Deepke and Ranka out of the aircraft by hand, the report said. The incident caused disruption inside the flight, according to the account.
Deepke is also shown asking how the police could take his phone and requesting time to collect his bag. While being taken away, he said he had come prepared to be arrested and challenged the authorities to apply the National Security Act or the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, according to the report. The report does not provide an official police explanation for the action or specify the legal provisions under which the three were detained.
The planned gathering at Jantar Mantar placed the incident within Delhi’s regulated protest system. The site is designated for demonstrations, but protests require permission and are subject to police and administrative conditions. In this case, Live Hindustan – NCR reported that permission had been denied before the group arrived in the capital. The available report does not provide details of the grounds cited for the denial.
The party’s post also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, alleging that the detention represented an unacceptable restriction. Those allegations are the party’s stated position and have not been independently confirmed in the supplied report.
The report further said that Ratna Singh, identified as the party’s legal head, and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee had earlier been detained in connection with the planned demonstration. It described Deepke, Das, Ranka, Singh and Rathee as five prominent faces associated with the group. No further information was provided about where the three men were taken, whether they were formally arrested, or when they would be released.
