CJP leader Ranka alleges ‘illegal detention’ by Assam Police after release

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leader Ashutosh Ranka said on Sunday evening that the alleged “illegal detention” of him and other party volunteers by Assam Police had ended.

Ranka made the statement in a post on X after he and the other detainees were released.

“The illegal detention by Assam Police has finally ended. We have asked Police to go and drop us from where we were picked up illegally in the first place,” Ranka said.

Ranka and more than 40 CJP volunteers were picked up by police earlier in the day from the residence of opposition Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) leader Kunki Chowdhury at Chowdhury Tilla, where they were scheduled to hold a meeting.

The group was taken to the headquarters of the 10th Assam Police Battalion in the Kahilipara area of the city. Authorities did not immediately provide details about the police action.

Speaking at a press conference after his release, Ranka alleged that he and his team had been illegally detained. He said the volunteers asked police why they were being detained but were told that the officers did not know and had received orders from higher authorities.

Ranka said the scheduled meeting was intended to discuss issues including improving schools in Assam, protecting the rights of indigenous people in Kaziranga and allegations that constituency boundaries were redrawn in a manner that benefited the ruling dispensation in the April Assembly election.

“(CM) Himanta Biswa Sarma is afraid of the cockroaches and used his police to threaten us. He forgets that this is the land of Zubeen da (Zubeen Garg), who fought for what is right. We want schools for our children and jobs for our youth,” Ranka said.

The CJP leader also alleged that Sarma had “repeated the mistake” made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the party's Jantar Mantar protest in Delhi. He said the organisation's movement would now intensify across the Northeast.

“Sarma may have all the resources, but we are not afraid. We are fighting for our rights,” Ranka said.

Earlier on Sunday, a video posted on Ranka's X account showed him sitting in a moving vehicle with police personnel. In the video, he was purportedly heard saying that Sarma had detained him and the CJP volunteers because he was “afraid” of the people of Assam, as the organisation wanted to “expose” the condition of schools in the state.

While being taken away by police personnel, Ranka had told reporters that the police action showed that the chief minister was “afraid of being exposed”.

“He (Sarma) is scared that if we show the schools here, the country will know the reality. He is afraid that people will know how their rights were being snatched in Kaziranga for the benefit of corporates. Also, man-made floods have taken scores of lives.

“But, we are not afraid of him. We know that he won the assembly election by redrawing boundaries of constituencies,” Ranka had alleged.

NCP (SP) spokesperson Anish Gawande, speaking to reporters after the detention, claimed that Ranka and 41 others had been “illegally and unconstitutionally detained from a private residence” where a meeting with CJP volunteers was scheduled.

Gawande said no legal notice had been served on them and that they had not been informed about the sections imposed.

“It is nothing short of jungle raj under CM Sarma, who is afraid of any and all kind of dissent,” Gawande had said.  (with inputs from PTI)