Delhi Police detained more than 150 people, including senior leaders of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), ahead of the organisation’s proposed protest at Jantar Mantar on October 10, according to a report by Live Hindustan – NCR. The report also said road spikes had been installed in parts of the New Delhi area as police increased security around the planned demonstration.
The protest, described by CJP as “Protest 2.0”, was proposed against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The report said the organisation did not have permission to hold the demonstration at Jantar Mantar. Police presence was increased across the New Delhi area as authorities prepared for the proposed gathering.
Among those detained were CJP leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, along with the organisation’s legal head Ratna Singh, according to Live Hindustan. The report said the leaders had travelled from Mumbai to Delhi to participate in the demonstration and were detained after their flight landed.
A video shared by CJP reportedly shows Dipke telling police officers inside the aircraft that the group had come to offer themselves for arrest. The report said police officers informed the leaders before their detention that they were not permitted to protest at Jantar Mantar.
Live Hindustan also reported that YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was detained at his home in Gurugram. The report did not provide details about the legal basis or duration of the detention. It said more than 150 protesters had been detained in connection with the proposed demonstration.
Ratna Singh said police officers came to her home in the morning. According to the report, she said she asked whether the officers had an official notice, but was told that there were “orders from above” to take her into custody. Singh also alleged that police repeatedly asked her to leave her car and were attempting to keep her under house detention. Her description of the action was reported as an allegation and was not accompanied in the supplied report by an independent police response.
The reported installation of road spikes adds a physical security measure to the police deployment around a major public protest location. The supplied report did not identify the roads where the spikes were installed, the agency that placed them, or whether they were intended to stop vehicles associated with the protest. It also did not state whether the spikes affected regular traffic or pedestrians.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi separately commented on the protest in a post on X, saying that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the government would leave office before work began to repair democracy. The supplied report carried the statement but did not provide a response from the Election Commission, the central government or Delhi Police.
Jantar Mantar is a designated protest venue in central Delhi, where access is regulated through permissions and security arrangements. In this case, the immediate issue is whether the proposed demonstration would proceed despite the reported denial of permission and how authorities would manage people arriving to participate. The next developments will depend on police action, any legal proceedings involving those detained and any formal statement on the protest arrangements.
