Abhijeet Dipke Made A 'No Mobile Today' Request. What His Mother Told NDTV

On a day the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) had called for a mega protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, its founder Abhijeet Dipke had told his mother to stay away from the television and mobile phone. But she still did, and learnt how her son was detained from an aircraft, in what she described as "wrong". Dipke's father, too, backed his son, stating that the police can only arrest an ordinary person, and not criminals like rapists and terrorists.

Speaking to NDTV in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Anita Dipke said her son had asked her not to watch TV or check her phone on this day. "But a mother's heart couldn't help it. I saw a reel of him sitting in the plane. And they were detained in the plane. This was wrong," she said.

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She said she was aware that her son could be detained. But what shocked her was the manner in which the cops stormed the Air India plane in which Dipke and other CJP leaders had arrived from Mumbai.

Visuals showed Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka, and Saurav Das being detained amid an in-flight drama. The police personnel then took them to different detention centres in Delhi and Gurugram.

"Arresting someone on a plane like this is wrong. What crime did my child commit? If anything happens to him, we will hold the government accountable. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are also protesting, but they are not being detained," she said.

Dipke's father, Bhagwanrao Dipke, came to know about his detention from Instagram.

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"For the first time in the country, a student has been arrested on a plane. Rapists and terrorists aren't caught. They don't arrest those who flee with the country's money. But they immediately arrest an ordinary person," he said, slamming the police action.

His message was clear: "Full support for my son and his friends. Keep fighting."

The CJP, an outfit born out of a movement against paper leaks, had called for a mega protest at Jantar Mantar today over alleged irregularities in the voter registration and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) processes.

The police denied permission, arguing that they were late in informing the authorities.

Besides the CJP leaders, hundreds of their supporters were taken into preventive custody overnight. Besides, dozens of metro stations were shut, and hundreds of trains were cancelled to prevent a huge turnout like the July paper leak protests.