The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has accused Delhi Police of withholding information about the whereabouts of its founder Abhijeet Dipke after his grandmother died in Maharashtra, while police sources said he had been informed of the death and could choose whether to remain in detention or return for the last rites.
Dipke, along with CJP co-convenor Saurav Das and party leader Ashutosh Ranka, was detained in Delhi on Saturday after arriving from Mumbai for the party’s proposed ‘Jantar Mantar 2.0’ protest. The demonstration was planned to demand Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
Delhi Police had denied permission for the protest, citing public safety, traffic management and law-and-order concerns. Security was tightened across the national capital ahead of the proposed demonstration.
In a post on X, the CJP accused the police of playing “petty politics” around what it described as a personal tragedy for Dipke and his family. The party said that neither Dipke’s family nor its lawyers had been informed of his whereabouts and expressed concern about the safety of all three detained leaders.
“We are stunned by the Delhi Police playing such petty politics around the personal tragedy that Abhijeet Dipke and his family has suffered,” the party said. “No one from Abhijeet Dipke’s family or CJP lawyers have been informed about his whereabouts.” It called for the family and lawyers to be allowed to speak to him and sought his immediate release.
Police sources, however, said Dipke had been informed about his grandmother’s death and had been given the choice of remaining in detention to continue the protest or travelling to Maharashtra for the last rites. The CJP disputed the handling of the information and said authorities should communicate directly with the family and legal representatives rather than share details with the media.
Dipke’s paternal grandmother, Savitribai Shankarrao Dipke, 85, died at her home in Santuk Pimpri village in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district at 11.30am on Saturday after a prolonged illness, according to family sources cited in the report. She had been unwell for about a month and had earlier been hospitalised in Hingoli.
Her last rites were scheduled for 10am on Sunday. Dipke’s cousin said the family had been unable to contact him because he was detained in Delhi. His parents had been informed and were travelling to the village, the cousin said.
Family sources said Dipke had met his grandmother on August 15, when he launched the ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign in Hingoli district, and had met her once more afterwards. They said he had not been able to see her during the previous 20 to 25 days.
The detention and the dispute over access to Dipke have unfolded alongside heightened security and restrictions on the proposed protest in central Delhi. The immediate next step is whether Dipke will be released or allowed to travel to Maharashtra before his grandmother’s scheduled last rites.
