Delhi Police Check Hotels, Track Arrivals Ahead Of CJP Protest At Jantar Mantar

Delhi Police are checking hotels, guest houses and other temporary accommodation across the Capital and questioning occupants they consider "suspicious" ahead of the Cockroach Janta Party's October 10 protest at Jantar Mantar. Police are also looking for "large groups" arriving in Delhi for the protest.

At least one guest and two hotel staff said police officers had visited and asked questions about the nature and duration of their stay. Hindustan Times reported that at least four police officers confirmed that directions had gone out to visit hotels, hostels, guest houses and other temporary accommodation facilities to check who was staying there.

The checks point to a wider police operation before Saturday's protest call by the CJP. The scrutiny covers suspicious guests, group arrivals and short stays around the protest dates. The report also describes parallel monitoring of transport links and questioning of travellers outside Delhi.

Hotel Checks Expand

Police are inspecting registers in person. One officer said: "The teams are entering the premises, checking the occupant registers or logs maintained by owners and managers and checking against a list of factors."

Those factors include stays between October 8 and 11, people arriving in large groups and visitors in their 20s and early 30s, Hindustan Times reported. Police are also checking the stated purpose of travel to Delhi. An official said, "If they checked into the accommodation a day or two ago and plan to leave shortly after the weekend, they are being asked about their purpose of visit because they could potentially have come for the protest."

The checks cover a wide range of properties. A third officer said police had deputed officers to visit hotels, bed-and-breakfast establishments and paying guest accommodation, and had also circulated a list of four- and five-star hotels because of the "social profile" of some protest leaders.

Booking patterns are under watch too. A senior officer said personnel were asked to focus on rooms booked by someone other than the occupant. "To my knowledge, staff have been asked to focus on individuals staying in rooms booked by others on their behalf. For that reason, they are not only checking hotel registers but also matching IDs submitted by the guests. If there is any mismatch, the personnel may question the hotel staff, the guests or the persons who booked the rooms," the officer said.

Special Cell Tracking

The drive is not limited to beat police. Another officer said the Special Cell and Crime Branch had been told to follow key members of the CJP, left-wing organisations and civil society groups.

That includes named individuals. "Locating the place of stay of social media influencer Dhruv Rathee and CJP’s founder Abhijeet Dipke is the prime responsibility of the Special Cell and Crime Branch teams," the officer said.

Police are also tracking road links into the Capital. Officers have been checking bus operators and their bookings to find out who is hiring buses and where they are going. "They have been asked to keep a watch on bus operators, including bookings being made and the destination. If there is organised movement of people towards New Delhi, the local police should be aware of it and stop it," an officer said.

Checks are also under way at railway stations and the airport, the report said, with a focus on "large groups" arriving in Delhi. One officer said: "We are not stopping or detaining anyone. We are just making inquiries. There’s intel that suspicious persons are coming to Delhi and will join the protest to violate law and order. We have got information from state police departments and railway police about groups of men coming in from different cities to Delhi. We are just verifying their details."

Detentions Beyond Delhi

Guests and hotel staff also described police visits in person. A 39-year-old woman at a luxury hotel in south Delhi, who had come from Bengaluru for a friend's wedding, said: "Around 4pm, two policemen showed up at the lobby of the hotel I was staying at. First, they were asking the staff if anyone was staying here who was going for the protest."

In Paharganj, one hotel staffer said: "Two beat officers came here on Wednesday and checked our log books. Our owner asked them the reason and they said it’s all in the news, we should know. But they didn’t question any guests." Another employee at a different hotel said a police officer visited on Thursday and asked for the guest list. "We showed them the list on our laptop. They told us to inform them if any people in groups make bookings to leave on Saturday," he said according to the Hindustan Times.

An All India Youth Federation member from Mumbai said he received calls from Delhi Police while travelling to Delhi. He alleged that the officer accused him of travelling in a large group for the protest and called him a terrorist when he questioned the police action. He said he later deboarded at Faridabad and returned home.

Railway police in Bhopal said they held 21 people on the Goa Express as it headed to Delhi for the protests. GRP Itarsi town inspector Sanjay Chauksey said officers had received input that a large group of young people travelling from Pune to Delhi could disturb peace. After checks on the train, police took the youths to a hotel in Itarsi and asked them to go back to Pune, he said. At the station, the detained youths shouted that they were going to Delhi to protect their rights and the Constitution.