Delhi Police detained former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, actor Raj Zutshi, 15 journalists and hundreds of others across the capital on October 10 ahead of the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest at Jantar Mantar, with detainees transported to makeshift holding centres in stadiums and a government school.
The detentions were reported at a time when the police had established centres across all 13 districts of Delhi. At Chhatrasal Stadium in north Delhi, around 13 kilometres from Jantar Mantar, police buses and vans brought detainees into a sports complex where athletic activity continued alongside the operation. Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Bawana, around 38 kilometres from the protest site, was also used to accommodate people picked up by the police.
The use of sports facilities and public buildings as temporary detention sites gave the operation a city-wide footprint beyond the protest location itself. At Chhatrasal Stadium, police vehicles stopped near the arena while officers recorded details of detainees. A pavilion near the entrance was being prepared to provide meals, drinking water and refreshments to police and Central Armed Police Forces personnel deployed at the site.
Sources told The Indian Express that Vijayan had been detained near Kerala House on Jantar Mantar Road and was inside the stadium complex. Actor Raj Zutshi was among detainees later seen leaving the venue in a van. Police movement continued through the morning, with multiple buses carrying groups into and out of the facility. Another group was taken to a government school in Shalimar Bagh, which was also being used as a detention centre.
The operation also affected journalists covering the protest. Newslaundry journalist Anmol Pritam said 15 journalists were detained while reporting, including four who were picked up near New Delhi Railway Station. The Indian Express reported that journalists from Newslaundry and Scroll were released in the afternoon. A detainee on one of the buses said phones had been taken away, according to the report.
At Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, police personnel said 17 men had been brought to the facility by 11 a.m. One middle-aged man told the newspaper that he had been stopped on Mahadev Road while taking a relative to hospital and had no connection with the protest. Two social media content creators seated behind him said they had been detained while making reels near Jantar Mantar.
A CPI(M) party worker, AR Sindhu, alleged that women protesters’ clothes were torn and said detainees had been moved repeatedly between locations. Her account was reported from inside a police vehicle. The report did not include an official police response to those allegations. The next steps for the detainees, including the basis and duration of their detention, were not specified in the account.
