Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke was detained aboard a flight from Mumbai to Delhi ahead of the massive protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Saturday (October 10) against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
In a video clip shot on the plane, police were seen entering the aircraft Dipke was travelling in, creating chaos on board. The flight had landed at Delhi’saround 11 am on Saturday.
“Aray mai arrest hone ke liye hi aaya hun. Karlo arrest [I have come here to be arrested; arrest me],” Abhijeet Dipke told Delhi police personnel as they asked him to “cooperate.”
“No, this is not an arrest. Please cooperate,” the personnel told Dipke. The video shows Dipke joining hands and asking officials if he could at least take his bag along.
Dipke also shared a video on Instagram, saying” So, you can see that Delhi Police is entering the plane to arrest us. They are all entering the plane. We just landed. All the Delhi Police officers are standing in the aisle. They are trying to arrest us from inside the plane.”
He said, “The entire Delhi Police is getting on the plane…This is the fear of Narendra Modi…Not even Indira Gandhi did this during the Emergency. All we wanted to do is a peaceful protest, and they are picking us up from the flight like we are criminals.”
“You can see where the nation is heading. They are here to arrest us directly from the flight. This is something not even Indira Gandhi had done. This is dictatorship, where Delhi Police has entered the flight and is trying to arrest us. Come on, arrest us. We are here to be arrested. Come on, arrest us. We are here to be arrested… We are not afraid of you,” Dipke is heard saying.
The CJP is holding a planned protest at in Delhi on Saturday, October 10. Several political parties are expected to join the demonstrations.
The protest is being held to demand the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, in which around 13 crore people have been “left out.”
The Delhi Police detained more than 150 protesters just ahead of the protest. was held at his residence in Gurugram’s Sector 56. CJP founders Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das were also allegedly detained.
Heavy security has been deployed in parts of Delhi in the wake of the protest. More than 200 trains have been cancelled, 45 Delhi metro stations have been shut and mobile internet services have been restricted in some areas around Jantar Mantar.
Heavy stone barricades were being placed at the Ghazipur border in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday as a security measure on the day of the CJP protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
