Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke and All India Students' Association (AISA) chief Neha Bora were detained in Delhi on Friday, minutes before they were scheduled to lead a ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ rally at Central Park in Connaught Place.

It was the second time Dipke had been detained in a week, NDTV reported.

He was earlier detained after arriving in Delhi from Mumbai to protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of voter-list manipulation during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The proposed rally was partly prompted by the arrest of party members Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, who were sent to five days of judicial custody after entering Jantar Mantar while waving the national flag on 13 October. The historic site had been denotified as a protest venue a day earlier.

Before detaining Dipke, Delhi Police served him a notice under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), stating that prohibitory orders were in force around Connaught Place and that the New Delhi Municipal Council had not granted permission for the proposed rally.

The notice warned that proceeding with the march would violate the restrictions and could lead to legal action.

Police told Dipke that waving the national flag was not illegal, but holding an unauthorised march and gathering a crowd would breach the restrictions. They also reminded him of the rules governing the respectful display of the national flag under the Flag Code.

In a video of the encounter, Dipke questioned the grounds for his detention, asking the police what law he had broken. When an officer told him he could not go to New Delhi, Dipke responded that he could go elsewhere and asked what offence he had committed.

Student leader Neha Bora, 29, was also detained near Jantar Mantar as authorities stepped up action against protests led by the Cockroach youth movement.