YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was detained by Delhi Police from his residence in Gurugram’s Sector 56 on Saturday ahead of the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) proposed protest at Jantar Mantar, police sources said.
YouTuber Dhruv Rathee Detained By Delhi Police, CJP Demands His Release
On Friday evening Rathee had posted a video in his X account announcing his participation in the Saturday’s protest. Rathee has come to join the demonstration, which has prompted heightened security arrangements across the national capital. The police have stepped up preventive detentions and deployed their personnel at strategic locations to prevent protesters from reaching the protest site.
A posse of aroud 50 policemen from Delhi Police landed at Rathee’s Gurugram home o Saturday morning and detained him, according to sources. Rathee, a known critic of the Narendra Modi government, had arrived in India from Germany earlier this week and had joined the CJP protest in Bengaluru on October 8. Rathee commands a massive digital following across platforms, with 19.2 million followers on Instagram, 3.3 million on X and 33 million subscribers on YouTube. Over 400 people have been detained overnight, hundreds of trains cancelled and dozens of metro stations shut ahead of a mega protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in the heart of Delhi today. The CJP has mobilised supporters to join it at Jantar Mantar, with the Centre deploying over 20,000 personnel from the police and the Central Armed Police Forces to maintain law and order.
The detention evoked a sharp response from CJP which demanded “immediate release of Dhruv Rathee”.
Earlier in the week, Delhi Police denied permission for the protest, citing security considerations and procedural requirements.
