CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ 6.50 am: CJP founder Abhijit Dipke leaves Mumbai hotel for Delhi, boards flight with Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka 10 am: YouTuber Dhruv Rathee detained from Gurugram house 10.50 am: Dipke, Das and Ranka detained from the aircraft as their flight from Mumbai lands at IGI Airport in Delhi 11.30 am: Police chase away CJP protesters trying to reach Jantar Mantar. Protesters kept regrouping for the next few hours Several Left members, lawyers march from Supreme Court towards Jantar Mantar, detained Police step up security at Dipke’s home in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar People heading to Jantar Mantar detained and taken to Chhatrasal Stadium in north Delhi Dipke, Das and Ranka sent to three different locations 12.20 pm: Mahatma Gandhi’s greatgrandson detained from his residence in Mumbai CJP’s Abhijeet Dipke and Ashutosh Ranka before their detention on Saturday | PTI 12 30 pm 6 am: Stringent traffic restrictions imposed in New Delhi district, especially on roads leading to Jantar Mantar noon Dawn to dusk kochi l sunday l october 11, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 28 l late city EDITION Contempt plea filed in SC against authorities for violation of the court’s direction to ensure no inconvenience to common people during protest CPM MP John Brittas and former Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, on their way to Jantar Mantar, detained Delhi interrupted Massive crackdown during CJP-led agitation, its top brass picked up from plane; 7,000 protesters and 4 former CMs detained, special hearing of SC today on detentions Who is Ajinkya Shinde A native of Latur district in Maharashtra, Shinde will lead the next phase of CJP’s agitation. Shinde, 35, hails from Ujani of Latur, and is a computer engineer. He played a key role in planning CJP’s fiveweek-long July protest. INSIDE Congress sits out | p7 Police detain activists during a protest organised by CJP demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi; and (inset) Pinarayi Vijayan detained | parveen negi BJP hits out at Opposition The BJP said the protest meant to take the city “hostage” turned out to be a “flop show”. BJP president Nitin Nabin accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Kejriwal and CJP of destabilising the country with the backing of foreign forces. CM Rekha Gupta asserted that Gandhi and Kejriwal are turning Delhi into a battleground. INDIA bloc plans protest | p7 Sonam Wangchuk’s warning | p7 What next: SC hearing, INDIA march The Delhi Police is expected to continue with its deployment on Sunday as well, with the CJP saying the protests would continue “with or without leaders”. Later, Ajinkya Shinde issued a call to CJP followers to assemble at Jantar Mantar at 10 am on Sunday. In a related development, the Supreme Court will hold a special Sunday hearing on a petition by senior advocate Maneka Guruswamy against the detentions the previous day. On Monday, the INDIA bloc has planned to submit a memorandum to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant seeking his intervention in the stir against the CEC, Gyanesh Kumar Slew of RBI steps to rescue rupee B e n n K o c h u v e e d a n @ Mumbai With the rupee sniffing at 97 a dollar, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Saturday announced a slew of measures in a desperate bid to stem the freefall of the national currency . It drastically slashed the forex derivative positions a bank can hold in the net open position to just $5 million from the already curbed $100 million, to curb speculation. The central bank also barred authorised dealers from rebooking can- FIR in CMRL payoff case tomorrow: Chennithala E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ T’Puram WITH THIS ISSUE The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau will register the First Information Report (FIR) against former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, daughter Veena T, and son-in-law and former minister P A Mohamed Riyas in the CMRL-Exalogic payoff case, on Monday . The decision, adhering to the High Court directive, was announced by Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala. Chennithala said the government will not go for an appeal against the High Court directive. Given that the case is spread across multiple locations, a special team comprising solely Vigilance officers will be constituted to probe the case. “We respect the court order and will proceed with the case. The Vigilance will register an FIR on Monday,” Chennithala told reporters on Saturday. Vigilance director Manoj Abraham said the Crime Branch has already transferred the ED’s complaint on Friday night. “Vigilance will constitute a special team to probe each case,” he said. Child’s Play PLUS 12 P AGES celled rupee-linked derivative contracts and introduced a 20% cash reserve requirement for large transactions to strengthen market discipline. That apart, it also opened a special dollar window for oil importers. On Friday, it had raised the minimum daily maintenance requirement for the cash reserve ratio (CRR) from 90% to 99% of the prescribed requirement, effective October 16. This was the first time since July 2013 that the RBI had increased the daily CRR requirement following pressure on the rupee, which has already lost more than 7% this year after the US Fed began tightening. The measures come amid evolving conditions in the forex market and are aimed at ensuring its orderly functioning, the central bank said. Under the revised norms, authorised dealers will not be permitted to allow users to rebook any foreign exchange derivative contract involving the rupee, whether deliverable or non-deliverable, if it was cancelled with an authorised dealer after issuance of the directions. NIA launches probe into mid-air attack on Captain Machchhar E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case and launched an investigation into the September 30 hijacking attempt of a Flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, in which Indian Captain Smit Machchhar was injured. The probe is to “unearth the larger conspiracy”, officials said. The NIA is empowered to investigate terror cases abroad that involve Indian citizens. The FIR, registered on October 9, in- vokes Section 3 of the Anti-Hijacking Act, 2016, and Section 16 read with Section 15(1)(a) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. It said the information “discloses the commission of offences against an Indian national, Captain Smit Machchhar.” According to FIR, on September 30, 2026, the Omani first officer of flydubai flight no 1073 stabbed the Indian pilot, Captain Machchhar, mid-air “in an apparent attempt to hijack or cause it to crash”. The case was registered on the direction of the Union home ministry . young minds, fresh ideas Keralam to go for a Gen Z perspective in five-year plan A s w i n A s o k K u m a r @ T’Puram Soon, conservative modes of planning may undergo a sea change in Keralam. The State Planning Board is set to bring in Gen Z entrepreneurs and professionals to be part of the planning process, in a bid to ensure fresh perspectives in development. Touted to be a first-of-its-kind in the country the move is to ac, tively consider the voices of youth in shaping the state’s development while drafting the 15th Five-Year Plan for 2027-2032. Inviting their suggestions, seeking their perspectives, and incorporating their requirements will be part of the agenda. Going by the planning board, youngsters would be included in the working groups formulated to look into different sectors. Of the total 40 working groups, young professionals will be incorporated in as many groups for which eligible individuals can be identified. “Youngsters who have already proven to be performing individuals in various sectors — doctors, teachers, entrepreneurs, etc. — will be pooled into working groups concerned. The selection process for this has already begun by identifying professionals and reaching out to them, instead of advertising,” Planning Board member G Vijaya Raghavan told TNIE. Government officials, experts, civil society and professionals from various fields will also be part of the working ● More on P5 groups.  1.15 pm: Dipke releases a video that he recorded in the flight, hands over the protest’s command to Ajinkya Shinde 2 pm:AISA national president Neha Bora detained in south Delhi 2.30 pm: Former West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and other Trinamool leaders detained after dharna in Delhi’s South Avenue U d aya n K i s h o r e & A n u p V e r m a @ New Delhi THE national capital was placed under siege on Saturday as police launched a sweeping crackdown on protesters attempting to march to Jantar Mantar to demand the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Police detained Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, and four former chief ministers: Pinarayi Vijayan, Mamata Banerjee, Manik Sarkar and Arvind Kejriwal. In all, about 7,000 protesters were taken into custody . While the government managed to thwart mass mobilisation at Jantar Mantar by putting up barricades at every 50 metres, the Opposition denounced the situation as “worse than the Emergency”. Throughout the day , loudspeakers blared warnings to protesters against assembling amid the deployment of over 30,000 security personnel and waves of barricades in Lutyens’ Delhi, giving it a fortresslike look. CPM general secretary M A Baby, veteran leader Brinda Karat, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, activist Yogendra Yadav, lawyer Prashant Bhushan and All India Students’ Association (AISA) president Neha Bora were also detained from different places during the day Several Left leaders were de. tained outside Kerala Bhawan, where some CPM leaders had stayed overnight. They raised slogans against the government before being taken away in buses. Dipke, Das and Ranka were de- 3 pm: Former Delhi CM and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal detained; released later at night 5.15 pm: Rahul Gandhi issues statement backing CJP protestors 8.15 pm: SC agrees to hear habeas corpus plea by TMC MP and senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy on detention of lawyers on Sunday tained from inside the aircraft as soon as their flight landed at the IGI Airport from Mumbai. “We are here to be arrested, come and arrest us,” Dipke could be heard telling police officers who entered the aircraft. Rathee, who lives abroad and had come to India to join the CJP protest, was detained from Gurugram. The Congress was conspicuous by its absence from the protest. However, Rahul Gandhi, who was in Chennai for the Chhatron Ki Goonj event, urged the youth to “keep protesting” and asserting that “we are going to ensure that this regime and the people who have attacked the Constitution are defeated.” The detentions did not deter the protesters from trying to reach the venue. Left student unions managed to reach the BJP headquarters. However, they were detained as soon as they started protesting. A large number of police personnel detained groups of protesters from several places, including Hanuman Temple, Akashvani Bhavan, Safdarjung Flyover and Kerala House. The police detained a few others who managed to reach the Jantar Mantar site. Around 1 pm, some protesters hurled stones at security personnel near Akashvani Bhavan after jumping barricades, injuring two police personnel. The protesters were quickly detained by security personnel. Police had arranged over 200 buses, being used to detain and transfer protesters. In an unprecedented move, police entered Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, and detained several protesters who had taken refuge there. All mosques and temples in the vicinity of Jantar Mantar were shut.