Three prominent leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), including founder Abhijeet Dipke, were released by an Executive Magistrate at the Delhi Cantonment Police Station on Sunday morning. Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das, and Ashutosh Ranka had been placed under preventive arrest by Delhi Police.
Their detention occurred on October 10, when police boarded a commercial aircraft at Indira Gandhi International Airport immediately after it landed from Mumbai. The leaders were taken into custody ahead of a planned march at Jantar Mantar, where they intended to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral roll discrepancies.
Details of the Detention and Release
CJP's Ratna Singh confirmed the release of all three leaders via a post on social media, stating, "Executive Magistrate court releases Abhijeet, Saurav and Ashutosh." The Delhi Police justified the detentions by stating that permission had not been granted for the proposed demonstration in the national capital.
Video footage circulated online showed police personnel entering the aircraft to execute the detention, with Dipke heard saying, "You can see that Delhi Police is entering the plane to arrest us." Police officials maintained it was not an arrest but a request for cooperation.
Related Developments and Wider Protests
During his detention, police stated that Dipke was sensitively informed about the death of his grandmother and was offered travel facilitation to his hometown on humanitarian grounds. However, Dipke's mother, Anita Dipke, expressed difficulty in contacting him and questioned the police's account.
The Supreme Court was scheduled to hold a special hearing on October 11 to address a contempt petition. This petition accused authorities of wilfully disobeying a directive against a complete shutdown of metro and train services in Delhi during the CJP protests. Reports indicated that nearly 3,000 individuals were detained across various points in Delhi, including Jantar Mantar and near the airport. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, a prominent CJP supporter, was also detained and later released, with co-founder Ajinkya Shinde stepping up to lead continued mobilization efforts.