New Delhi: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Saturday claimed that its leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained by Delhi Police after their flight landed in the national capital.
In a statement, the party condemned the alleged detentions, claiming they were part of a pre-planned move to prevent its leaders from reaching the site of their proposed protest.
The CJP leaders had arrived here from Mumbai.
The CJP described the action as a violation of freedom of movement and demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the three leaders.
The CJP has called the proposed demonstration at Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of voter-list manipulation during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and changes relating to Form 6, used for voter registration.
Dipke had earlier in the morning left Mumbai for Delhi to lead protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Jantar Mantar.
The CJP, in a statement, condemned the “authoritarian detention” of its Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das, and Ashutosh Ranka straight from their flight upon landing in Delhi.
“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.
Earlier in the morning, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and CJP legal cell head Ratna Singh were also detained at their homes to stop them from joining the police.
Over 400 suspected protesters were detained from different parts of the Capital overnight by the Delhi Police.
Earlier on Friday Delhi Police had denied permission for the CJP protest saying that the permission was not sought well in advance.
The Capital has seen unprecedented curbs with 45 Metro stations shut and dozens of trains cancelled to stop the movement of the protesters.
The Centre has deployed over 20,000 personnel from the police and the Central Armed Police Forces to maintain law and order.
