Mumbai Police detained Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and president of Hum Bharat Ke Log, along with his associates on Saturday as they headed to August Kranti Maidan for a protest in support of the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) demonstration in Delhi, The Indian Express reported.
The protest was scheduled for 3:30pm.
A police official said Gandhi was picked up from Bandra and taken to DN Nagar police station. Gandhi claimed on X that he had been arrested and taken to an unknown location. Police denied arresting him, saying he had only been detained.
Guddi S L, vice-president of the organisation, was picked up from Andheri and taken to MIDC police station, police confirmed.
On Friday, Gandhi posted a poster on X urging Mumbaikars to join him at August Kranti Maidan, the site from which the Quit India movement was launched in 1942. The protest was planned in support of the CJP’s demand for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Gamdevi Police said no application had been received or permission granted for the demonstration.
“Due to a Supreme Court ruling, the Mumbai police cannot grant permission to hold a protest at August Kranti Maidan as the land belongs to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). No one had approached us in the first instance,” a senior police official said on Friday.
Guddi disputed the claim, saying she had emailed police seeking permission because Gandhi was not in the city but had received no response.
“Gandhi has been called by the police, and they are telling him not to protest. They have also asked him about his location and said that they would detain him,” she said on Friday.
The detentions come amid heightened police vigilance across Maharashtra ahead of the CJP’s planned protest at Jantar Mantar. Police in Mumbai and other parts of the state have been monitoring people suspected of planning to travel to Delhi.
Mumbai Police detained more than 200 people on Friday to prevent them from travelling to the national capital, the report said.
