India
oi-Gaurav Sharma
Hours after being released from custody, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke left for his village in Maharashtra on Sunday, following the death of his grandmother. He said party co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka will hold a press conference in Delhi, while asserting that the party will continue its campaign for the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Abhijeet Dipke, in a post on X said he was returning to his village to be with his family, during the time of mourning. He also said the detention of party leaders and disruption of the planned protests would not deter the CJP from pursuing its demands.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were released Sunday following detention before a planned protest demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over electoral roll irregularities. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was also released.
“The CJP will neither back down nor be intimidated,” Dipke wrote, adding that October 10 will be remembered as the beginning of the end of what he said was a dictatorship.
In another post following his release, Dipke criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling him an embarrassment to the country and accusing him of being both a coward and a bully.
Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka and Dhruv Rathee Released
CJP co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were released on Sunday, after being produced before an executive magistrate. The two were detained at Delhi airport on Saturday, along with Dipke, ahead of the party’s proposed demonstration at Jantar Mantar.
According to CJP legal affairs head Ratna Singh, the three party leaders were released on the condition that they will not breach the peace for a year.
YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, who was detained by Gurugram Police before his planned participation in the protest, was also released around 3 am on Sunday, and handed over to his family.
The detentions took place, amid an extensive security operation across the national capital. More than 7,000 protesters were detained at various locations on Saturday, preventing them from reaching Jantar Mantar, for the planned demonstration demanding Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
