With founder Abhijeet Dipke and other senior leaders detained, the Cockroach Janta Party has entrusted its Jantar Mantar protest to Ajinkya Shinde, a former IT professional with years of experience in Aam Aadmi Party politics.
More than 3,000 people have been detained across Delhi as authorities enforce sweeping security restrictions.
New Delhi is under an extraordinary security clampdown as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) is pressing ahead with Jantar Mantar 2.0 protest, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. With several senior leaders in police custody and more than 3,000 people detained across the capital, the responsibility of leading the agitation has fallen to Ajinkya Shinde, the organisation's national in-charge.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, along with Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, was detained by Delhi Police shortly after their flight from Mumbai landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport on Saturday.
Anticipating the possibility of detention, Dipke had recorded a video on Friday night naming Shinde as the person who would lead the movement in his absence. The message was released on the party's X account following his detention.
According to reports, Dipke urged supporters to follow Shinde's leadership until he and his colleagues were released.
The leadership change comes amid widespread police action across Delhi. Around 250 of those detained were reportedly picked up from southeast Delhi, particularly the Shaheen Bagh area.
Police carried out detentions across several districts, near transport hubs and along the city's borders, citing the need to prevent large gatherings and maintain law and order.
Security personnel have been deployed in large numbers around Jantar Mantar and other sensitive locations. Reports indicate that more than 35,000 police and paramilitary personnel were mobilised, with surveillance drones, body-worn cameras and additional monitoring arrangements.
Metro station closures, barricades and traffic diversions have disrupted movement across the capital. Delhi Traffic Police had issued an advisory warning of restrictions on several routes on October 10.
Police have also refused permission for the demonstration, citing procedural requirements. Protest organisers, meanwhile, have criticised the restrictions and detentions.
Ajinkya Shinde, 35, is a political organiser from Maharashtra who previously worked with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Originally from Alibaug, a coastal town in Maharashtra, Shinde comes from a farming family and has a background in computer science.
Before entering politics full-time, he worked for an international IT company in Pune. He subsequently resigned from his well-paying corporate job to pursue political work.
Shinde reportedly first met CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke in Goa in 2016. He later joined AAP and spent about a year working on the party's campaign for the Goa Assembly elections.
Although AAP failed to win a seat in that election, Shinde continued his involvement with the party, taking up organisational responsibilities in Maharashtra.
He served as a social media coordinator for AAP's Maharashtra unit, convener of its Pimpri-Chinchwad unit and later convener of the party's Maharashtra Youth Wing.
In August 2026, he was reportedly appointed national organisation in-charge of the CJP. His experience in grassroots mobilisation and political coordination has now brought him to the forefront of the group's Delhi protest.
Prominent YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was also reportedly detained by police in Gurugram on Saturday morning. Rathee, who had recently arrived in India from Germany, had participated in a CJP protest in Bengaluru on October 8.
Police also detained protesters attempting to approach Jantar Mantar, with some taken to temporary holding facilities, including Chhatrasal Stadium.
The Times of India reported that the number of people detained across the capital had exceeded 1,500, although a consolidated official count was not immediately available.
The CJP has urged supporters to remain peaceful, avoid damaging public property and refrain from crossing police barricades.
