CJP demands immediate release of co-convener Ashutosh Ranka, volunteers after detention in Guwahati

CJP founder Dipke says he and other members will go to Assam if Ranka and the volunteers are not released.

Guwahati: Police personnel detain Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka and other party activists as they raise slogans ahead of their scheduled first regional volunteers' meeting near the Assam Secretariat, in Guwahati, Assam, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (PTI Photo)

Guwahati: The Assam Police detained Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)‘s co-convener Ashutosh Ranka and at least 30 other volunteers ahead of their meeting in Guwahati Sunday. CJP has alleged that the police were not letting their legal counsel speak to Ranka and the volunteers.

Speaking to the reporters, Ranka said that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was afraid of CJP. “Himanta Biswa Sarma fears that we will reveal the truth about Assam’s schools, Kaziranga National Park, and the state’s ‘man-made’ floods to the nation”, Ranka said in a video. 

“Ashu was picked up by Assam Police from a private residence. They have still not been told under what charges or on what grounds he has been detained. If Ashu is not released, I will go to Assam along with other CJP members. Himanta can arrest us all,” Abhijeet Dipke, founder of CJP, wrote in a post on X. 

The CJP co-convenor and the volunteers were earlier supposed to meet at the Assam Shree Parshuram Seva Sadan in Athgaon, where over 500 volunteers from across Assam and the Northeast were expected to assemble. However, following what the CJP alleges was intense state pressure, the venue management abruptly withdrew permission, forcing the event to relocate to Chowdhury Tila.

Subsequently, they alleged that the police earlier in the day barricaded the venue of the party’s first regional volunteers’ meet-up in Guwahati and began detaining CJP leaders.

“The entire road leading to the meet-up site has been barricaded from both sides. Assam Police is ready with tear gas. Our volunteers are being detained. No one is being allowed to reach the meet-up site. Why is Assam govt so scared of @Cockroachisback?” Ranka wrote on X before his detention. 

Following Ranka’s detention, the CJP held a press conference at Chowdhury Tila (opposite Assam secretariat) that was led by Anish Gawande, National Spokesperson, NCP-SP, Saifur Rehman, CJP member, and Paresh Malakar Coordinator, Civil Society, who demanded an an official public explanation from the Assam Police. 

ThePrint has reached out to several Assam Police officers for a response and is yet to hear back. This report will be updated as and when a response is received.

(Edited by Archishman Ganguly)