Two days after the X account of the satirical platform, ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ was withheld by the Centre, triggering the launch of a new X handle, its founder Abhijeet Dipke Saturday alleged severe crackdown on all its social media handles, including the new X handle, ‘Cockroach is Back’, as well as his personal Instagram account.
Taking to X, Dipke wrote: “Crackdown on Cockroach Janta Party. Instagram page hacked. My personal Instagram hacked. Twitter account withheld. Back up account also taken down.”
The Centre withheld the original X handle of the platform on Friday in the wake of inputs from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) that raised “national security concerns,” The Indian Express reported.
Crackdown on Cockroach Janta Party.
– Instagram page hacked.
– My personal Instagram hacked.
– Twitter account withheld
– Back up account also taken down.— Abhijeet Dipke (@abhijeet_dipke) May 23, 2026
Over a post on the same X thread, Dipke requested the public not to consider any posts by the party as “official” over its social media handles, given they are currently inaccessible to them.
“Please note that we currently do not have access to any of our platforms. Any post made after this should not be considered an official statement from the Cockroach Janta Party,” he wrote.
Abhijeet Dipke claims death threats
A day earlier, Dipke claimed that he was receiving death threats following the launch of the platform.
Posting screenshots of WhatsApp messages that seemed to threaten him, Dipke on X wrote: “Receiving death threats now.”
A message he received in Hindi, read: “Listen, you will get paid to close the account. Otherwise, we can get you killed even in America.”
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Moreover, in an interview to The Indian Express, Dipke expressed his concern for his family residing in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, formerly known as Aurangabad.
“I have been getting constant threats both for myself and my family, which is in India. I just received a video in which a man is saying that they have reached outside my home and that I need to wait till evening to see what happens next,” he said.
Government silent on action against Cockroach Janta Party
The platform was launched after Chief Justice of India Surya Kant likened some unemployed youths to “cockroaches” and said “some become media… social media… RTI activists” and “start attacking” the “system”.
He later clarified: “What I had specifically criticised were those who have entered professions like the Bar (legal profession) with the aid of fake and bogus degrees. Similar persons have sneaked into the media, social media, and other noble professions as well, and hence, they are like parasites. It is totally baseless to suggest that I criticised the youth of our nation. Not only am I proud of our present and future human resource, but every youth of India inspires me. It is not an exaggeration to say that Indian youth have great regard and respect for me, and I too see them as the pillars of a developed India.”
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The Instagram handle associated with the user had over 21 million followers, as of early Saturday.
A day earlier, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) asked X to withhold the account under Section 69 (A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the official said, adding that the input to do so came from the IB.
According to X guidelines, any account or post is withheld if the social networking site receives a “valid and properly scoped request from an authorised entity”.
The government has not yet publicly commented on the platform over the withholding of its X handles, or the hacking of its Instagram accounts.
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However, speaking to The Indian Express, a senior government official had said on Friday, “However, it is likely that the Instagram account would also be blocked, and that process is currently underway.”
