Delhi protest restrictions intensified on Saturday after police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke and senior colleagues Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka at Indira Gandhi International Airport, shortly after their flight from Mumbai landed at about 10.20 am. The detentions took place ahead of the party’s planned protest at Jantar Mantar against the Special Intensive Revision and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The three leaders were taken to an undisclosed location, with police sources saying they were being held separately. In a 20-second mobile phone video released after the detention, Dipke said that he, Das and Ranka had been arrested and announced that Ajinkya Shinde would lead the movement from then on. The report said the video appeared to have been released while Dipke was in detention, although sources indicated that it could have been recorded earlier. The CJP’s response to that claim was awaited.
Shinde, who is the CJP’s national organisation in-charge, is a resident of Alibaug in Maharashtra and a former Aam Aadmi Party worker. He campaigned for AAP during the 2016 Goa elections and later worked for the party in Maharashtra. A computer science graduate, he had worked for a Pune-based IT company before leaving a high-paying job and joining AAP after the anti-corruption movement led by Arvind Kejriwal.
He has been associated with the CJP since its formation and participated in protests in Delhi in June and July over the alleged NEET examination paper leak. He later became a member of the party’s core team and took charge of its national organisation.
In a separate video message, Shinde alleged that the three leaders had been detained by the Modi-Shah government to prevent people from reaching Jantar Mantar. He also claimed that trains had been stopped and bus services shut down. Those claims were made by Shinde and were not independently established in the report.
Delhi Police said prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita had been imposed in Central Delhi and that permission had not been granted for protests anywhere in the area. The restrictions directly affected access to one of the capital’s designated protest venues and formed the basis for police action against people attempting to march towards Jantar Mantar.
More than 2,000 people had reportedly been detained in Central Delhi since the morning while trying to reach the protest site. The report did not provide details on the legal grounds, duration or release status of those detentions. The immediate operational impact was the prevention of the planned gathering and the detention of organisers and participants travelling to Central Delhi.
The planned protest was focused on the Special Intensive Revision and the Chief Election Commissioner. Further protests by the youth platform were expected to be led by Shinde following Dipke’s announcement. Delhi Police’s prohibitory orders remained the stated administrative measure governing demonstrations in Central Delhi, while the status of the detained leaders and other protesters was not specified in the report.
