New Delhi: YouTuber Dhruv Rathee has alleged that several plainclothes policemen in unmarked cars followed his vehicle on Wednesday, four days after his release from Delhi Police detention. In an Instagram video, Rathee claimed that the police were tracking his movements and threatening to detain him again if he approached the protest site, ahead of a proposed demonstration against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Jantar Mantar on 16 October.
In the video, Rathee, 32, claimed that several cars followed his own after he left his Gurugram home this evening. The caption reads: ‘playing hide and seek with Delhi Police.’
“We have just stepped out of the house, and I’m in the car. I want to show you how these people are following me and how the Delhi Police is not leaving us alone,” he said in the video, then turned the camera and pointed to a couple of cars he claimed were tailing him.
The cars had no police markings, though one had a siren on its roof.
Rathee then confronted the driver of one of the vehicles with a siren, slowing down his car to speak to him, before the driver sped off.
At the end of the clip, Rathee says: “I am just trying to figure out how many people are trailing me. Is it 20 or 50 or 100, all behind just one guy.”
While Delhi police has not responded to the allegations, Sandeep Kumar, DCP (East) Gurugram Police, also denied tailing him.
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‘Abduction’ not detention
Rathee, 32, was detained from his Gurugram home in Sector 56 at around 7 am on 10 October, ahead of the proposed Cockroach Janta Party protest.
The YouTuber claimed that around 20 people in plain clothes barged into his house at about 7 am, pushing his mother aside, and pounced on him while he was still asleep. He claimed he could not even put shoes on before he was whisked away.
He alleged that police then took him to different stations and did not allow him to access his phone to contact his lawyer for about 23 hours.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke was also picked up from inside the flight he was on before being detained.
Delhi Police said the action was preventive, citing the lack of permission for the protest and prohibitory orders in Delhi.
After being released the next day from what he called an “illegal detention”, Rathee said at a press conference that he would take legal action against those responsible.
“This is an Emergency-like situation. But at least Indira Gandhi declared it,” the YouTuber said.
He also claimed that the police have stationed around 50 people outside his house.
“Wherever I go, they follow me and threaten me, saying that if I go anywhere near a protest, they would pick me up immediately again,” he had said.
(Edited by Stela Dey)
Good. I hope they hound him to the extent that this sellout flies back to Germany. Absolute travesty that you guys are giving this loser and others like him so much space