New Delhi, 10 October (H.S.): Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), who travelled to Delhi to participate in a protest at Jantar Mantar, was taken into custody while still aboard his aircraft upon arriving in the national capital. Saurav and Ashutosh Ranka were also detained alongside him. Delhi Police remained on high alert, determined to prevent CJP workers from reaching Jantar Mantar under any circumstances.

Dipke, accompanied by Das and Ranka, departed from Mumbai airport to participate in the protest scheduled to take place at Jantar Mantar on Friday. Upon their arrival at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, they were reportedly not allowed to disembark and were taken into custody while still inside the aircraft.

A video of the incident has been circulating widely on social media. Dipke was heard saying that he had come to Delhi to be arrested. However, police personnel told him, “No, this is not an arrest. Please cooperate.”

Earlier, ahead of the CJP’s proposed demonstration on Friday, Delhi Police had also taken prominent YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, who recently returned from Germany, into custody. Rathee was reportedly detained from his residence in Gurugram, Haryana.

According to reports, Delhi Police personnel entered his family residence at Central Park Vihar in Sector 56 at approximately 7.48 am. Around 50 police personnel in plain clothes had allegedly been deployed outside and in the vicinity of the residence since the previous night.

Rathee had returned to India from Germany a few days earlier to participate in the protest.

Dhruv Rathee is a well-known YouTuber, social media influencer, and political and social commentator. He is widely recognised for producing analytical videos on contemporary developments, socio-political issues, the environment and history.

Born on October 8, 1994, in Rohtak, Haryana, Rathee is the son of an engineer and a schoolteacher. He moved to Germany at the age of 17 to pursue higher education.

After completing his higher studies, Rathee launched his YouTube channel in 2014. Initially, he uploaded travel vlogs filmed using an iPhone. He subsequently began explaining complex political, economic and social issues in India and around the world in accessible language, using data and graphics to support his analysis. His fact-checking and educational approach gained considerable popularity among viewers.

He has also launched channels in several regional Indian languages, including Tamil, Telugu and Bengali, to reach a wider domestic audience. Across his digital platforms, he commands a following of several million people. His main YouTube channel alone has more than 40 million subscribers.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar