Delhi Police Detain Around 500 Including Dhruv Rathee and CJP Founder Abhijeet Dipke Ahead of Anti-CEC Protest

Delhi Police detained around 500 people on Saturday morning as they tried to reach a protest called by the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at Jantar Mantar. Those held included the party's founder, Abhijeet Dipke, who was detained inside an aircraft moments after it landed in the capital, and social media commentator Dhruv Rathee, who was picked up from his home in Gurugram hours earlier.

The protest was called to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and to oppose the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Critics of the exercise allege irregularities in the voter lists that benefit the ruling BJP. Police had refused permission for the gathering, citing an earlier breakdown of law and order in the area.

Detained on the plane

Dipke had flown in from Mumbai to lead the demonstration. Instead of waiting for passengers to disembark, police officers boarded the aircraft and took him into custody along with two other CJP members, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka. Dipke was streaming live on Instagram as it happened. In the footage he challenged the officers to arrest him, said the party was not afraid, and described the action as dictatorship.

The CJP called the detentions authoritarian and a pre-planned attempt to stop its leadership from reaching the venue before the protest could begin. It demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all three.

Rathee was detained at his residence at around 8 am, according to a post on the party's X account, which said roughly 50 plainclothes officers arrived to take him in. He had joined a protest against the voter-roll revision in Bengaluru on Thursday and was expected in Delhi on Saturday.

A capital under lockdown

The security operation was one of the largest Delhi has seen for a single protest this year. Police said around 500 people arriving in groups from different places were detained, and nearly 50 others with criminal records were picked up as a preventive measure. The New Delhi district was split into 20 operational zones, each with its own detention point, and stadiums including Chhatrasal, Rajiv Gandhi and Surajmal were turned into temporary holding centres.

Drones monitored crowds near New Delhi Railway Station and central roundabouts. Spike strips were laid on some roads, and personnel from the Rapid Action Force and CRPF were deployed alongside Delhi Police. Security was also stepped up outside the homes of the Chief Election Commissioner and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi.

Commuters felt the impact. Dozens of metro stations, including Supreme Court and Mandi House, shut their gates, with earlier advisories listing 45 stations closed from Friday night until Saturday evening. Mobile internet was restricted around the Janpath and Kartavya Path area, and Delhi Airport told travellers to leave extra time because of traffic diversions.

By around midday, crowds near the protest site were thinner than at the party's earlier rallies, as the heavy deployment kept most demonstrators away. BJP president Nitin Nabin criticised the CJP on Saturday.

Why it matters

The CJP began as a satirical online movement earlier this year and grew into a street force after leading protests over exam paper leaks. Saturday's crackdown comes days after opposition MPs held their own demonstrations against the Election Commission, including a march by INDIA bloc MPs demanding the CEC's removal.

The protest has now moved the SIR fight from Parliament and party offices onto the streets, led by young voters without a party structure behind them. How the government handles the detentions, and whether Dipke and Rathee are released quickly, will shape whether the movement grows or fades in the weeks ahead.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.