The paternal grandmother of Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke died on Saturday in Santuk Pimpri village in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district, while Dipke remained detained in Delhi after being stopped at the airport ahead of a planned protest.
She had been unwell for the past few days due to a prolonged illness and age-related ailments.
Dipke was in Delhi when he received news of his grandmother’s death. He had left Mumbai on Saturday morning to participate in a protest at Jantar Mantar demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, but was detained by Delhi Police at Indira Gandhi International Airport after his flight landed.
The development raised questions about whether he would be permitted to travel to Maharashtra to attend the last rites and be with his family. Details regarding his release or travel arrangements were not immediately available.
Dipke’s parents, Anita and Bhagwan Dipke, were in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, where police personnel had been deployed outside their residence. Following the news, they were expected to leave for Hingoli to attend the last rites.
Earlier on Saturday, Delhi Police personnel entered the aircraft carrying Dipke and detained him along with fellow CJP members Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka. Dipke shared a video of the incident on social media, in which he was heard telling the police, “…I have come here to be arrested; arrest me.”
The CJP also announced the detentions through its social media account.
The three were detained ahead of the party’s proposed Jantar Mantar protest against alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and to demand action against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
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