Police officers arrived at Abhijeet Dipke's home before intercepting him en route to Connaught Place, after which the Cockroach Janta Party stated that he had been taken to a location it described as "undisclosed." Security forces took up positions across central Delhi as the organisation's 'Lehra Do Tiranga' rally drew a substantial crowd.
Roughly 150 individuals were taken into custody at locations spanning Janpath Road, Connaught Place, and Mandi House across the capital. Neha Bora, an activist with AISA, was reported to be among those detained.
By nightfall, representatives for both Dipke and Bora told reporters they had no information on the whereabouts of either individual. Questions about the whereabouts of those held in detention were also raised by the politician who previously served as chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
That morning, Delhi Police had issued a notice to the CJP founder directing that he not attend the rally. The notice cited prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS as its legal basis. It identified Connaught Place as a location without official protest-site designation and directed Dipke to call off the planned march.
The notice further directed the organisation's founder to avoid actions that infringe upon the rights of fellow citizens, and clarified that Connaught Place falls outside the list of approved protest venues — any demonstration, it stated, would be required to be held at a designated location following the proper application and approval process. The notice also described the area as a commercial and hospitality hub, with an official statement explaining that the locality holds a mix of showrooms, eateries, hotels, banking branches, offices, and pavement vendors, and that any interruption to normal activity — particularly across evenings, weekends, and peak festival periods — bears directly on the earnings of traders and their employees. The notice stated that roughly 15 lakh traders, together with the people they employ, rely on the venue operating in a calm and orderly manner to carry out their constitutional rights.
Delhi Police officers delivered the notice in person to Abhijeet Dipke at the residence belonging to NCP-SCP spokesperson Anish Gawande. Dipke was taken into custody by officers not long after setting out toward the march location. Video recorded prior to his detention shows him putting questions to the officers about what rule he had broken, asking in Hindi, "Maine abhi violation kaise kiya hai?" Gesturing toward the journalists around him, he told those present that he was the only individual there and questioned on what basis any order could be considered violated.
Both the CJP and AISA raised questions about the location of Abhijeet Dipke and Neha Bora following their detention while travelling to the Tiranga rally. The organisations stated that the two individuals were being kept from their legal representatives and colleagues, with one group stating that Dipke had been moved to a location that authorities had not disclosed and that contact with him had since been lost.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan posted on X that Dipke had not been permitted to consult with legal counsel, and posed a question about why young people faced treatment comparable to that reserved for those accused of terrorism. The post further asserted that those involved hold equal standing as Indian citizens and are entitled to every protection and right guaranteed under the Constitution.
According to AISA, Bora was being held without other detainees at the Anti-Narcotics Task Force facility in Mangolpuri. A follow-up post from the organisation stated that she was subsequently transported away from that facility in a vehicle with darkened windows, with her destination undisclosed.
Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, and MK Stalin were among the opposition figures who voiced support for Dipke and Bora, with each characterising conditions in Delhi as amounting to an unannounced state of emergency. Joint remarks targeting Delhi Police's treatment of Bora and Dipke were put forward by a bloc of opposition voices that included Banerjee, the former chief minister of West Bengal, alongside Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.
Banerjee characterised the move as an "undeclared emergency," arguing that a government unwilling to tolerate dissent was using the measures to pressure an entire generation into compliance. Kejriwal posted on X characterising the situation as an instance of authoritarian governance. Former Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin called on authorities to account for the location of the detained individuals, adding that holding individuals without disclosing where they are kept runs counter to both the law and basic standards of humane treatment.
Whether displaying a national flag amounts to an offence has become a matter of open dispute. Calls for the detained individuals to be freed have grown alongside demands that authorities permit peaceful demonstrations to proceed without interference.
Dipke, Bora, and a number of others had been taking part in demonstrations over what they describe as irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, while also calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar — with one participant posting on X that attempts to suppress the movement would only serve to strengthen it.
