New Delhi: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke and its co-founders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained by the Delhi Police from an Air India flight soon after it landed at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi on Saturday morning.
The detentions came ahead of the CJP’s proposed agitation in the national capital against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
Dipke went live on instagram as cops entered the flight and detained him amid high in-flight drama.
The video posted by Dipke showed commotion inside the flight as the CJP members argued with the cops asking them why they could not wait for them to deboard the flight.
“You could have waited till we came out. Come arrest us, we are not afraid,” Dipke was seen telling the women cops who boarded the plane. The CJP leaders were then taken by the police to an undisclosed locations from the airport. Sources revealed that they are not being kept together.
Dipke had left Mumbai earlier in the morning to lead the protest in Delhi. The detention of the three leaders had been condemned by the CJP.
“This pre-planned interception by the Delhi Police aims to cripple the leadership of today’s peaceful demonstrations before they even reach the protest site. The CJP denounces this blatant violation of freedom of movement and demands the immediate, unconditional release of Dipke, Das, and Ranka,” the CJP said.
YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and CJP legal cell head Ratna Singh were also detained at their homes in the morning to stop them from joining the protest. Rathee, who had been part of a protest in Bengaluru, was picked up from his house in Gurugram.
Over 400 suspected protesters were also detained from different parts of the capital overnight by the Delhi Police, as reported by NDTV.
The Delhi Police had earlier denied permission for the CJP protest. The capital has seen unprecedented curbs with 45 metro stations shut and dozens of trains cancelled.
The Centre has deployed over 20,000 personnel from the police and the Central Armed Police Forces to maintain law and order.