NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Coackroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained by Delhi Police soon after their flight landed at the national capital’s airport on Saturday, ahead of a planned protest at Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The detentions came amid heightened security across Delhi, with police taking preventive action against people attempting to reach the protest venue. Earlier, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was detained from his residence in Gurugram, while around 200 protesters trying to reach Jantar Mantar were also taken into custody.
Police sources said drones were being used to monitor the movement of people attempting to reach the protest site.
More than 600 people with alleged criminal records had been detained across all 15 districts of the national capital as part of preventive measures ahead of the demonstration, police sources said.
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The protest has been called to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise, which has drawn criticism from opposition groups.
Plea in Supreme Court over metro, rail restrictions
Meanwhile, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Saturday seeking the initiation of contempt proceedings against authorities over alleged non-compliance with the court’s October 9 directions concerning restrictions on metro and railway services in Delhi ahead of the protest.
The petition, filed by Shailendra Mani Tripathi, named Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan and other officials as respondents.
It alleged that authorities had continued closing metro stations in the national capital despite the Supreme Court’s direction to ensure there was no complete prohibition on the movement of metro trains and trains operated by Indian Railways on October 10.
The plea contended that the continued restrictions had disrupted public life and caused hardship to commuters.
On Friday, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre and Delhi Police to lift blanket restrictions on metro and railway services ahead of Saturday’s proposed demonstration.
The court’s intervention followed concerns over the closure of metro stations and restrictions on public transport in the run-up to the protest, which has prompted a major security deployment across the capital.
