Actor Imran Khan was detained by Mumbai Police during a protest demonstration held at the historic August Kranti Maidan, organized to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. Following his release, a video clip has gone viral across social media platforms showing the actor waving and sarcastically remarking “Jai Hind!” to police personnel as he exited the venue. Multiple videos capturing Saturday’s events have sparked widespread discussion online.
Other clips circulating on social media showed tense verbal exchanges between Imran Khan and law enforcement personnel, who had formed a human chain to restrict demonstrators’ movement. The actor’s partner, Lekha Washington, along with his cousin, Zayn Marie Khan, were seen recording the confrontation while demanding to know the legal grounds, warrants, or official authorization behind the detention. All three were subsequently released by the police.
Reflecting on the ordeal in a video post-release, Khan stated that he was baffled by the police action, adding sarcastically that officers picked them up from the road, instructed them to get into a van, drove them around for nearly two hours, and eventually dropped them off at an unfamiliar location. Washington further alleged that they were initially prevented from hailing a cab even after being let go.
The Mumbai Police took over 400 demonstrators into preventive custody from August Kranti Maidan and nearby Nana Chowk. The protest had been called by Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson, Tushar Gandhi, to protest alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and disputes surrounding Form-6 applications. Tushar Gandhi himself was detained while marching toward the protest site and was later released.
According to police officials, August Kranti Maidan is not a designated site for holding protests under relevant Bombay High Court directives, making the preventive action necessary to uphold public order and maintain peace. The venue holds significant historical importance as the birthplace of the Quit India Movement in 1942. The agitation ran parallel to protests called by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on the same issue, triggering heightened security deployments across both metropolitan cities.
