Hundreds of people, including actor Imran Khan, Shiv Sena UBT MLA Varun Sardesai and Tushar Gandhi’s granddaughter Kasturi Gandhi, were detained in Mumbai on Saturday after police sealed access to August Kranti Maidan for a demonstration supporting the Cockroach Janata Party’s demand for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.
More than 500 police personnel were deployed around the south Mumbai ground, with three layers of barricades placed on roads leading to the venue. Protesters were stopped and questioned at multiple points, while traffic near Nana Chowk was diverted and slowed as police vans transported detainees to nearby stations.
The gathering had been called by Tushar Gandhi, president of Hum Bharat Ke Log and great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. He had appealed on X on Friday for Mumbaikars to assemble at August Kranti Maidan, the site associated with the launch of the Quit India movement in 1942. Gandhi was detained in Bandra with his associates while travelling towards the ground and taken to DN Nagar police station.
Protesters began arriving in the Grant Road area from around 3 pm, carrying posters, flags and copies of the Constitution. However, police personnel at the barricades prevented them from reaching the maidan. The final barricade was placed at Nana Chowk, with nearly 50 officers positioned at each of the three points, according to the report.
Falak Shaikh, 17, who travelled from Malad after completing a political science examination, said officers questioned her and her friends about their college and where they had come from. She alleged that officers threatened to detain them near the entrance to the ground. Her friend Zoya Sheikh said they had attended an earlier CJP protest at Shivaji Park but found the police scrutiny tighter on Saturday.
Lata Tendulkar, who travelled from Thane, alleged that she and her sister were hurt while police attempted to detain them. She pointed to scratches on her arm and said her friend’s spectacles were damaged during the incident. The report did not include a response from Mumbai Police to these allegations.
Senior police officers, including Additional and Deputy Commissioners of Police, supervised the arrangements on the ground. The deployment left August Kranti Maidan empty despite continued attempts by protesters to approach it, while diversions around Nana Chowk affected traffic movement in the area.
The Mumbai action followed wider detentions linked to the CJP’s planned demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. Delhi Police denied permission for that protest, citing security concerns and an application filed against the required 10-day notice period. More than 2,000 people had reportedly been detained in Delhi by 3 pm, including CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, spokespersons Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, and several political and civil society figures.
Dipke was detained after being taken off a flight at Delhi airport. The report said his grandmother died in Hingoli on Saturday and that he was given the option of remaining in detention or travelling to Maharashtra. The wider restrictions also reportedly led to the cancellation of more than 250 trains and affected over 40 metro stations in Delhi.
The Mumbai detentions and traffic diversions continued into the evening as police maintained the barricades around August Kranti Maidan. No protester was able to reach the ground, according to the report.
