Archive · 9 Oct 2026
Pune Students Detained Aboard Train En Route to Delhi Protest
A group of students was travelling from Pune to Delhi to join a protest.
The protest was planned for October 10 and called for election chief Gyanesh Kumar to resign.
Student leader Shravani Bua said police first spoke to the group at Bhusawal and later made them get off the train at Itarsi.
She said the students were being kept at a resort, and that one student might have been hurt.
A railway police officer said the students were released and were staying at a hotel by choice.
Other students and activists said police called or visited them and warned them not to go to Delhi.
A spokesperson for the protest group was also reportedly detained in Rajasthan.
His lawyer said he was being kept from leaving home, while a local police chief denied claims that he had a head injury.
On October 8, student leader Shravani Bua and 13 other students travelled from Pune toward a Delhi protest aboard the Goa Express.
Bua said Maharashtra police approached the group at Bhusawal, and Madhya Pradesh police later forced them off the train at Itarsi.
Bua said the 14 students were held at an Itarsi resort and one may have suffered a minor fracture; railway police said the students were released and staying at a hotel voluntarily.
The Cockroach Janata Party called an October 10 protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged electoral-roll revision irregularities.
Students and activists reported police calls, home visits and warnings against travelling to Delhi; CJP spokesperson Deepak Baliyan was also reportedly detained and placed under house arrest in Rajasthan.
- Who
- Shravani Bua and 13 other students travelling from Pune; Cockroach Janata Party spokesperson Deepak Baliyan was also reportedly detained.
- What
- Students travelling to a Delhi protest were made to leave the Goa Express at Itarsi; accounts differ on whether they were detained or released to stay at a hotel voluntarily.
- When
- The train journey and reported stop at Itarsi took place on October 8, 2026, ahead of a protest planned for October 10.
- Where
- The students were travelling from Pune, were intercepted at Bhusawal in Maharashtra and stopped at Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh. Baliyan was reportedly detained in Alwar district, Rajasthan.
- Why
- The students were travelling to a Cockroach Janata Party protest demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls.
Students, activists and lawyers
Police statements
Students’ status in Itarsi
Students, activists and lawyers
Bua said Madhya Pradesh police manhandled and forced the students off the train, and that all 14 were being held at a resort.
Police statements
Itarsi GRP Inspector Sanjay Choukse said the students were disembarked, released, and staying at a hotel of their own free will.
Baliyan’s treatment and movement
Students, activists and lawyers
Baliyan’s lawyer said he was detained, his phone was retained, and about 20 officers were restricting his movement outside his home.
Police statements
Alwar Superintendent of Police Sudheer Choudhary called claims of a head injury a false narrative and did not answer whether Baliyan was under house arrest.
- Students in group
- Bua said 14 students in total; another report described the group as nearly 15.
- Train
- Goa Express
- Reported interception points
- Bhusawal, Maharashtra, and Itarsi, Madhya Pradesh
- Planned protest
- October 10 at Jantar Mantar, Delhi
- Protest demand
- Resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar
- Bua’s account
- She said the students were held at Park Club and Resort in Itarsi.
- Railway police account
- Itarsi GRP Inspector Sanjay Choukse said the students were released and were staying at a hotel voluntarily.
- Legal notice
- A notice given to mechanic Prathmesh Randive cited Section 168 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.
