John Brittas, a CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP, claims Delhi Police and CRPF personnel assaulted him in Connaught Place on Sunday. He alleges officers dragged him roughly 50 metres while he spoke to journalists, then forced him into a police bus where he was pinned down and suffocated. Brittas said he was eventually released after a Deputy Commissioner of Police intervened, calling the detention unlawful. He was taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for chest X-rays.
In letters sent to President Droupadi Murmu, the Rajya Sabha Chairman, and the Chief Justice of India, Brittas demanded a special investigation team unconnected to the initial responders. He requested the preservation of CCTV footage, duty rosters, and vehicle movement logs. He also sought protection for witnesses and journalists present at the scene. The timing of the incident, he argued, ignored earlier Supreme Court directions on handling protests in Delhi.
The protest, organized by the Cockroach Janta Party, targeted Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Brittas said he arrived around 12:30 pm after hearing student activists were being detained. He insisted he repeatedly identified himself as an MP before the assault. Sajid Hussain, a man in the same bus, corroborated that police behavior was extreme. Brittas later posted on X, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of turning Delhi Police into 'mad dogs.'
CPI(M) General Secretary M A Baby visited Brittas at RML Hospital and alleged police vehicles were used as 'torture camps' for SFI and DYFI activists. He named SFI President Adarsh M Saji and DYFI CEC member Jaick C Thomas as victims. Brittas said the incident raises questions about the safety of ordinary citizens if a sitting MP cannot exercise his right to protest peacefully. The police have not yet issued a detailed statement on the specific allegations of suffocation.