Police in the Indian capital Delhi detained the founder ‌of the Cockroach Janta Party, Abhijeet Dipke, on Saturday, ahead of a protest called by the youth ⁠movement demanding the resignation of the country’s chief election commissioner, the party said.

TV channels reported earlier that police officers met Dipke at the Delhi airport after he arrived ‌from ⁠the financial capital Mumbai and asked him to call off the protest as authorities had ⁠banned it, Reuters reported.

Earlier on Saturday, Indian police detained YouTuber Dhruv Rathee from his residence in Gurugram’s Sector 56, according to India media reports.

Rathee has returned to India to join the demonstration, prompting heightened security arrangements across the national capital. Police personnel, reportedly in plain clothes, went to Rathee’s Gurugram residence on Saturday morning and detained him.

According to the Times of India, a Gurgaon police officer said police had tried to persuade Rathee not to attend the protest, citing prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) in Delhi and the lack of permission for the demonstration.

“Gurgaon police tried to make Dhruv Rathee understand that he should not join the CJP protest as they don't have permission for the same, he didn't agreed and rather kept posting on social media that he would be at the protest venue in Delhi, we detained him in the morning,” the officer said.

In a post on X shortly before boarding his flight at the Mumbai airport, Dipke wrote that the shutdown of Delhi and crackdown on supporters were "not signs of strength", but of a leader terrified of his own people.

"(PM Narendra) Modi has accepted defeat even before our protest has begun," he wrote, reports The Hindu.

CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were also detained ⁠from their flight upon landing, the movement said ⁠in a statement.