CJP Pune Members Distance Themselves From Lal Mahal Protest

Pune: Kushal Gupte, a core member of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in Pune, told The Free Press Journal that the organisation's core members were unaware of the protest near Lal Mahal and had not called for any demonstration in the city.

“The core members of CJP were not aware of this protest being held today in Pune. If we had to announce any protest in Pune, we would follow the legal procedure, obtain police permission and hold it at the designated protest site. The people who were protesting today in Pune are not members of CJP,” Gupte said.

He added that some youngsters might have claimed to support the CJP, but the Pune group had not organised the gathering. He also said that no member of the Pune CJP group had been detained, as far as he knew.

“The movement that is going on in Delhi and across India is being degraded by such incidents,” he said.

The clarification came after Pune Police detained around 100-150 people near Lal Mahal on Saturday, Oct 10, citing the lack of permission for the protest. Assistant Commissioner of Police Anuja Deshmane told The FPJ that those detained were supporting the movement led by the CJP and would be released after an investigation if they were not linked to other cases.

A police officer also told The FPJ that the action was being taken in accordance with Home Ministry orders. Around 500-700 police personnel were reportedly deployed in the area, with several in plain clothes.

The gathering took place amid wider police action ahead of a planned CJP protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and other members were detained in Delhi after arriving at Indira Gandhi International Airport on Saturday. Delhi Police had denied permission for the planned demonstration.

The allegations of electoral irregularities remain contested.