Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, was seized by officers at his apartment on Friday, just minutes before he was to lead a "Lehra Do Tiranga" march through Connaught Place.
The police had already hauled him in weeks earlier, after his flight from Mumbai, to protest the Chief Election Commissioner’s alleged manipulation of voter rolls.
The backdrop of this latest move is the arrest of CJP aides Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, who were sent to five‑day judicial custody after waving the national flag at Jantar Mantar the day after the site was stripped of its protest status.
A notice issued under Section 163 of the BNS warned that NDMC had not granted permission for the Tiranga Yatra and that any un‑permitted gathering would breach the municipal prohibitory order.
Meanwhile, 29‑year‑old student leader Neha Bora was taken into custody near Jantar Mantar, as police tightened a clamp‑down on the Cockroach youth movement’s protests.
Dipke was told that marching without a licence would be illegal; he objected, saying he hadn’t broken any law, and vowed to contest the decision in court.
The next step will see Delhi Police file a case under the BNS, while Dipke prepares a legal challenge that could set a precedent for future civic demonstrations.