New Delhi: The Delhi Police Wednesday morning detained former civil servant Ashish Joshi, who retired as additional secretary to the Government of India in March this year, for questioning in connection with a case, officers aware of the matter told ThePrint.
Sources in the Delhi Police confirmed that its Special Cell registered a case against Joshi two days ago in connection with his “online activity” under Section 192 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which pertains to “wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot”.
Joshi, a 1992-batch officer of the Indian Post and Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service (IP&TAFS), was released Wednesday evening after he was questioned. At around 7.30 pm, he wrote on X: “Just got back home. Delhi Special Cell dropped me home. Details later.”
Just got back home.
Delhi Special Cell dropped me home .
Details later .
— Ashish Joshi (@bismil_prasad) September 2, 2026
“The case was registered two days ago. He was called for questioning and was bound down. It is a cognisable and bailable offence,” a Delhi Police officer said.
In 2019, Joshi was suspended for allegedly violating civil service conduct rules after he posted on X seeking legal action against then rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra over a controversial video uploaded by the latter.
“I did not commit any crime,” Joshi had told ThePrint at the time. “As a public servant, I was just doing my job of informing the authorities concerned,” he said about the complaint. “I don’t regret what I did.”
On Wednesday morning, the social media platform was abuzz with allegations of Joshi being “picked up by Delhi police officers in plain clothes”.
Former MLA and senior Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit took to X to write about Joshi’s missing status. “This morning my good friend and someone assisting me in reaching out to civil society Ashish Joshi @bismil_prasad (retired Additional Secretary) has been taken away by two police constables from Nehru Park. I came to know after his wife spoke to me in the morning. We have been trying to trace him since 10 am but no trace at all. We are very worried and @DelhiPolice @CPDelhi must inform us where he has been taken as early as possible,” he wrote.
“Former bureaucrat Ashish Joshi @bismil_prasad was picked up by two plainclothes Delhi policemen during his morning walk in Delhi earlier today. His whereabouts remain unknown. Is the Modi government so uncomfortable with his social media posts that it has to resort to this?” wrote Congress’s Supriya Shrinate.
Speaking to ThePrint a senior police officer confirmed Joshi’s detention. “He is being questioned with regards to a case and will soon be released.” The officer did not divulge any details of the FIR or the sections of the case. Joshi’s role in the case is still unclear.
Some of the former civil servant’s social media posts have been critical of the current dispensation. He had recently posted on the CJP protests as well. “Civil Services Grapevine. There was a massive showdown between HM and HS related to action against students at Jantar Mantar. HS was against severe police action against students. Also there was resistance by junior officers in the field. HS did not want extension. But was given an extension despite objection of HM. Citizens may read between the lines,” one of his posts, later deleted, read.
He had also posted on the “shuddhikaran” in Haldwani after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s rally.
This is a travesty of justice.
The people who performed the casteist “purification havan” at Haldwani’s Ramlila Ground after @kharge ji's rally still roam free.
Meanwhile, an FIR is registered against @RahulGandhi .
In Delhi too there is a Ramlila Ground.
Was any such… https://t.co/ogAxPVo2iU
— Ashish Joshi (@bismil_prasad) August 30, 2026
Joshi’s 2019 suspension came after he flagged what he called an “incendiary post” by Delhi minister and then rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra. Joshi was then serving as Department of Telecom (DoT) controller of communications in Uttarakhand.
The former civil servant had filed a complaint with the Delhi Police commissioner over a video uploaded by Mishra on X where he emphasised the need to attack India’s “internal enemies” like journalist Barkha Dutt, and activists Prashant Bhushan, Kavita Krishnan and Shehla Rashid.
“The matter that indecent messages were doing the rounds on social media was brought to my notice by my college junior Barkha Dutt, who tagged me on Twitter,” Joshi, an alumnus of Delhi University’s St. Stephen’s College, had told ThePrint at the time.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)