Guwahati: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka and his five associates including Ankit Bhardwaj and Prem Aakash were detained by Assam police on Sunday (September 27) at Dispur in Guwahati.
At least 20 CJP volunteers who had arrived in Dispur to attend a scheduled “Volunteer Meet-Up” were also detained from the parking area opposite the Assam Secretariat shortly after reaching the venue.
Three participants from Nagaland, including a 72-year-old woman, had arrived to attend the meet-up and were detained by police.
Speaking to reporters before his detention, Ranka accused Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of trying to prevent people from questioning the condition of the state’s infrastructure.
“Why is Himanta Biswa Sarma afraid of people seeing the actual condition of schools in Assam? He knows the situation would become known across the country. He is also afraid of what is happening to people’s rights in Kaziranga, where land, forests, and water are being taken away and handed over to corporates,” Ranka said.
Earlier, police detained five other attendees as they arrived carrying a banner reading “Volunteer Meet-Up.” They were escorted into police vehicles before the programme could commence.
The other detainees were identified as Khargeswar Milli, Sheikh Sahiluddin Shah, Hitesh Barua, Mintu Das, and Tommy Barua.
Actor and conservation activist Arghadeep Baruah was also detained by police and taken to the 10th Assam Police Battalion (APBN).
“We just came for a protest, but they have detained us before we could even start,” one detainee told reporters.
Reacting to the detentions, Abhijeet Dipke posted on X: “Assam Police has detained AshutoshRanka and CJP team and taking them to an unknown location. Ashu and co were going to have a small volunteers meet up in Assam.”