More than 30 workers of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), including co-convener Ashutosh Ranka and four central committee members, were detained by Assam Police in Guwahati on Sunday ahead of a planned regional volunteers’ meeting, according to the organisation.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke reacted to Ranka’s detention and said that he would travel to Assam with other party members if Ranka and the other workers were not released. Dipke alleged that Ranka was picked up by Assam Police from a private residence and that those detained had not been informed about the charges or grounds for their detention.
“If Ashu is not released, I will go to Assam along with other CJP members. Himanta can arrest us all,” Dipke said in a post on X.
The CJP had planned a regional volunteers’ meeting in Guwahati at 10am on Sunday. The meeting was initially scheduled at Assam Shree Parshuram Seva Sadan on Kharga Choudhury Road in Athgaon. The organisers later shifted the venue to Chowdhury Tila, opposite the Assam Secretariat, after alleging that pressure had been applied to the original venue to cancel the booking.
Ranka had arrived in Guwahati on Saturday along with other CJP members, including Ankit Bhardwaj, Akash Prem, Varun Agrawal and Anam. Before his detention, he alleged that police were preventing CJP members from conducting the meeting. In a video posted on his X account, Ranka was seen inside a vehicle with police personnel and claimed that the action was linked to the organisation’s activities in Assam.
The CJP said its members were planning to raise issues related to schools and other public concerns in the state. The organisation also said it planned to work on its “School Thik Karo” education campaign and conduct outreach among families affected by the Special Revision of electoral rolls.
Following the detentions, the CJP demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Ranka and the other detained workers. It also sought an explanation from Assam authorities over the alleged police intervention and the cancellation of the original meeting venue.
As of the latest reports, Assam Police had not issued a statement explaining the detentions or specifying charges against the detained CJP members.
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