Assam Police Detain Ashutosh Ranka, CJP Volunteers at Meet-Up

Assam Police detained Ashutosh Ranka and members of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) during a volunteer meet-up in the state, the party said in a post on X.

CJP leader Abhijeet Dipke said lawyers had gathered outside the location where Ranka and the others were being held but were not being permitted to meet them. In an earlier statement, Dipke alleged that the group was being moved to an undisclosed location.

Ranka, in a post on X, wrote, "Whenever Himanta gets scared, he sends the police ahead." In a video accompanying the post, he said Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma feared that the party would expose the truth about Assam's schools, Kaziranga National Park and the state's "man-made" floods before the country.

The CJP said in a separate post that its volunteers had been detained during a "peaceful meet-up" at which they were discussing the need for a better education system. The party said it would not back down from its campaign.

The detentions come amid the party's continuing push on education and other issues in the state. Further details on the number of those detained and the grounds cited by the police were not immediately available.