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Police boarded a flight from Mumbai shortly after it landed in New Delhi on October 10, 2026, and detained Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, along with Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, according to video footage shared by the group and reports from CNN and The New York Times. Dipke could be heard shouting “go ahead and arrest us! Victory to Mother India! Long live the revolution!” as officers approached, while the group described the move as a preemptive strike to block a demonstration at Jantar Mantar. The operation formed part of a broader lockdown that deployed tens of thousands of security personnel, barricaded roads and suspended mobile internet in central areas of the capital, Al Jazeera reported. Delhi Police said the detentions were carried out under laws permitting preventive arrests to maintain public order.
The protest had been called to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a voter list revision that removed more than 130 million names since the previous year. Critics including the Cockroach Janta Party allege the exercise was politically motivated to favour the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of state elections, a charge that both the Election Commission and the BJP have denied. According to The Guardian, the authorities blocked thousands of potential demonstrators from across India from reaching the capital, while other prominent figures such as YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal were also detained or placed under house arrest. The scale of the response underscored the sensitivity surrounding electoral integrity in the world’s largest democracy.
The Cockroach Janta Party emerged in May 2026 after Chief Justice Surya Kant likened some unemployed young people using fake degrees to “cockroaches,” a comment the movement reclaimed as a badge of defiance. What began as an online phenomenon rapidly developed into a youth-led campaign pressing for wider electoral reforms, BBC News noted in its coverage. The group is not registered as a formal political party yet has attracted significant support among Gen Z voters disillusioned with established institutions. Its organisers had vowed to proceed with the rally despite police denial of permission.
A New Delhi court ordered the release of Dipke, Das and Ranka on October 11, with the condition that they commit no breach of peace for one year, The New York Times and Al Jazeera reported. Ratna Singh, the movement’s legal director, announced the development on social media, while the released leaders held a news conference at which they alleged officers had acted without warrants and seized their phones without proper orders. Dipke later wrote on X that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “an embarrassment to India” and pledged that “the CJP will neither back down nor be intimidated.”
Delhi Police stated that around 500 to more than 2,000 protesters were detained during the operation, though some accounts from Reuters cited in multiple outlets suggested the total number prevented from participating was substantially higher. Student activist Neha Bora and several lawyers and opposition politicians were among those held, according to coverage by The Guardian. The crackdown drew condemnation from opposition parties who described it as an assault on democratic rights, while the ruling party characterised the demonstrators as anarchist forces seeking to disrupt public order.
At the post-release news conference, Das and Ranka reiterated their intention to continue pressing for Kumar’s removal and for restoration of the deleted voter names. The Election Commission has maintained that the roll revision was a standard process to ensure accuracy ahead of forthcoming polls. The episode marks the latest in a series of protests by the Cockroach Janta Party, which has previously staged demonstrations that similarly drew heavy security responses across several Indian cities.
