‘Another Jantar Mantar’: AAP workers gherao police station after Kejriwal’s detention

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers gheraoed Jaffarpur Kalan police station in Dwarka on Saturday, alleging that party convener Arvind Kejriwal, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, national media in-charge Anurag Dhanda and Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj had been detained amid protests over alleged vote theft.

Kejriwal confirmed his detention in a social media post, saying a large crowd had gathered at the police station. He shared a video on X saying, “The police have detained us at the JafarPur police station. A crowd of people has gathered from all sides here. Now this place has turned into another Jantar Mantar. Modi ji, your prisons will fall short. Don't have the guts to mess with the country's youth. Take Jnanesh Kumar's resignation and stop stealing votes."

The former Delhi chief minister had been under police surveillance at his residence since morning. He was detained when he tried to leave to join the protest against alleged irregularities in the electoral process.

Speaking to reporters before his detention, Kejriwal alleged that the police were preventing people from leaving their homes and picking them up on the streets. “...There are police personnel and paramilitary forces everywhere. People are not being allowed to leave their homes...The police are picking people up as they walk on the streets. No one is being allowed to go anywhere. They have created an atmosphere of authoritarianism across the country. Why?... They want to suppress this issue of 'vote chori' and continue doing it. But the people of this country will not allow this to happen.”

He also urged people to come to Delhi to protest against alleged vote theft, claiming that several activists and leaders had been detained. “The youth of the country have risen. Today, CJP leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurabh Das, along with Dhruv Rathee, Ratna Singh and others, have been detained. The youth of the country are very angry. I request people to come to Delhi however they can to stop this vote chori; otherwise this country and this democracy won't be saved.”

Former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI(M) MP John Brittas were also among those detained by police and taken to the detention centre at Chhatrasal Stadium.