Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke’s grandmother, Savitribai Dipke, passed away on Saturday, barely hours after he was detained by Delhi Police upon arriving in the national capital to participate in a protest.

Savitribai had been unwell for the past few days and passed away at 11.30 am at the family’s native village of Santuk Pimpri in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district. She was 85. 

News of her death came just hours after Dipke was detained by Delhi Police aboard his aircraft shortly after it landed at Delhi airport. Her last rites will be performed at 10 am on Sunday, PTI reported citing sources. 

Dipke, along with fellow CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, was detained as police moved to prevent the party’s planned protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

“As Abhijeet Dipke has been detained in the national capital, we could not contact him. But we have contacted his parents, and they are on the way to Santuk Pimpri,” said Dipke’s cousin.

He said Dipke had met his grandmother on August 15 when he launched the ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign from the Hingoli district and one more time. “He could not meet her in the last 20-25 days,” sources said.

Following the detention of its top leaders, the CJP named Ajinkya Shinde, the organisation’s in-charge, to lead the demonstration at Jantar Mantar.

Delhi Police deployed more than 25,000 police and paramilitary personnel as part of security arrangements to prevent protesters from reaching the designated protest site.