New Delhi, 4 September

Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj was detained from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, hours after Delhi Police assured CJP protesters that he would be arrested within 72 hours for allegedly assaulting the father of a student in July, officials said.

Several teams were deployed to trace Bhardwaj, who describes himself as a 'kattar Hindu'. A video clip of an interview in which he is heard boasting about cracking the skull of Sanjay Kumar, the father of student activist, Nishu Azad, during the July 20 protest in Delhi had gone viral.

Bhardwaj had allegedly fled from Naithla village on a Bullet motorcycle towards Khurja before the police team reached there to apprehend him. He was wearing a helmet, apparently to conceal his identity, officials said.

The Cockroach Janta Party staged a protest outside the Parliament Street police station in the national capital on Friday to demand action against him.