India's 'Cockroach' movement founder detained along with scores of protesters

The leaders of India's "Cockroach" movement have been detained by police, along with scores of protesters, in a major crackdown to stop a mass demonstration.

The planned protest by the youth movement was aimed at calling for the country's chief election commissioner to quit.

Police stopped demonstrators before they could reach the protest site at Jantar Mantar, chasing some away and detaining others who were bundled into police vehicles and taken away.

Loudspeakers around the site warned that gatherings of five or more people were banned in parts of New Delhi, as authorities imposed sweeping security restrictions rarely seen in the capital.

But some protesters broke through police cordons, chanting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and election authorities before being detained.

Meanwhile, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) said that its founder had been held by police at an airport in the city.

The demonstrations were focused on the election commission's contentious voter list revision, which has removed more than 130 million names.

Critics say the intensive revision favours Mr Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

But the commission and the government have rejected allegations of voter manipulation, saying the revision is meant to get rid of duplicate and ineligible entries.

Protesters are demanding the change be scrapped and chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign.

The dispute has become a rallying point for Indian opposition parties seeking to challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party.

And the demonstrations come at a politically sensitive time, months after protests led by the student-led movement over exam paper leaks forced Mr Modi's education minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign in July.

At an airport in New Delhi, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke was met by police, who asked him to call off the protest as authorities had banned it, TV channels reported.

Party leaders Saurav Das ​and Ashutosh Ranka were ⁠also detained from their flight on arrival from Mumbai, the movement ​said.

The trio had been expected to lead the protest at Jantar Mantar, where sweeping restrictions have been imposed, including mobile internet being suspended.

"The pre-planned interception by Delhi Police aims to cripple the leadership of today's peaceful demonstrations before they even reach the protest site," the movement said.

The site has been cordoned off with yellow metal barricades, and thousands of police officers have been deployed.

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A student, who was determined to get to the site, said: "We are a democracy, yet peaceful protests are being crushed by force. Shouldn't we fight for our rights. Why is Modi afraid of India's young people?"

Officers also stopped buses, cars and other vehicles at entry points to the centre of New Delhi, searching for protesters.

Restrictions on train services and metro stations were expected to disrupt travel across the capital, and make it more difficult for protesters to get to the site.

Anti-riot vehicles with tear gas launchers were also in place along key routes.

(c) Sky News 2026: India's 'Cockroach' movement founder detained along with scores of protesters