Delhi Police Execute The Plan To Remove Wangchuk From Jantar Mantar

New Delhi : Delhi Police carried out a meticulously planned operation in the wee hours of Saturday to remove climate activist Sonam Wangchuk from the Jantar Mantar protest site after a strategy was finalized at a high-level meeting after new Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar took charge, senior police sources said.

According to sources, senior officials decided to carry out the operation at dawn, when the number of protesters was lowest. Police also identified a brief period of time when Wangchuk’s close aide, Abhijit Dipke, walked away from the protest site, leaving the scene without its primary coordinator.

Around 30-35 personnel in plainclothes from the New Delhi Regional Special Forces and local police entered the barricaded protest area silently.

Sources said the operation was being conducted on a need-to-know basis. The entire strategy was known only to a handful of senior officers. Inspectors and most of the personnel assigned to the field were instructed to simply go to the protest site and stay put, without being briefed about the entire operational plan beforehand.

Police personnel then surrounded Wangchuk’s bed and covered it with large white sheets on all four sides before moving him away from the stage to prevent crowd action and minimize chaos, sources said.

The operation was performed in three layers. Plainclothes police first secured the stage and removed Wangchuk. In the second tier, CRPF and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel kept the protesters out of the barricaded area to prevent any clashes. In the third tier, senior Delhi Police officers monitored the entire operation from a checkpoint near ambulances and police vehicles.

After Wangchuk was placed inside the ambulance, traffic police ensured a clear route, allowing the vehicle to proceed uninterrupted to Safdarjung Hospital.

Shortly after the operation was completed, Abhijit Dipke returned to the protest site and claimed that Wangchuk had been suspended in his absence. He also announced that he would continue the action by going on a hunger strike.

Delhi Police, however, maintained that the exercise was carried out peacefully with maximum restrictions and appealed to the protesters at Jantar Mantar to vacate the area peacefully as soon as possible.

According to the New Delhi DCP, “On the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and expert medical advice due to the deteriorating health condition of Sh. Sonam Wangchuk, she was shifted to the hospital for essential medical care. The protesters, while complying with the orders of the Hon’ble High Court, attempted to create obstruction in which mild mayhem ensued, but the police took maximum restraint and undertook the exercise safely. We request the protesters at Jantar Mantar to vacate the area peacefully at the earliest.”