Three police officers deployed at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar allegedly took a day off from duty to support the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) protest against the NEET paper leak, CJP founder and national convenor Abhijeet Dipke has claimed.The unusual encounter, according to Dipke, began when three men wearing caps, masks and glasses approached him during the protest. He said he was initially unsure about their identity and felt apprehensive.“One day, three police officers came wearing caps, masks and glasses. I was a little scared about who had come,” Dipke said in an interview with News 24.Dipke said the officers then asked to speak to him privately. They identified themselves as police personnel deployed at Jantar Mantar but told him they had come to support the protesters. He claimed they had removed themselves from duty for the day.According to Dipke, the officers told him, “You are doing a very good thing.”The conversation became personal when one of the officers spoke about his daughter, Dipke said. The officer told him that she was in Class 10 and that he wanted her to avoid facing the circumstances being experienced by other students.Dipke also spoke about the financial pressures faced by lower-ranking police personnel posted at protest sites. He said he felt sorry for them and questioned whether their salaries were sufficient to cover the cost of raising and educating their children.“They may be earning Rs 30,000, Rs 40,000 or Rs 50,000 at most. Their children must also attend coaching. Their children’s education is very expensive,” he said.The claim comes in the context of Dipke’s earlier account of the CJP’s July 20 Parliament march. He said he had spoken to two people who were injured by pellet-gun firing during the protest and had sought answers from the police and the government over their injuries.Dipke claimed the two were protesting peacefully when they were struck by pellets fired by the police during the demonstration. The latest account adds another dimension to his portrayal of the protest, placing the alleged dissent not only among demonstrators but, according to his claim, also among some of the personnel deployed to police them.Dipke later turned to the case of Sahil, a 19-year-old Delhi University student who was injured by pellet-gun fire during the July 20 protest. In a post on X, he questioned the government’s response to allegations of excessive force.“I spoke to two victims, Sahil and Vikas, who were injured by pellet gun fire on July 20. The police and the government deny brutality, but how will they explain this? Sahil and Vikas were protesting peacefully when they were hit by pellets fired by the police,” Dipke wrote.According to Dipke, Sahil told him that he had appeared for the Delhi Police examination in 2025 and alleged that the paper had been leaked. A political science student, Sahil also reportedly worked part-time to support his family of five because his father is disabled.Dipke said Sahil told him that pellets were still lodged in his eye and that he had lost sight in one eye. He is now unable to work and support his family, Dipke claimed.“If this is not brutality, can the government explain what brutality is?” Dipke asked.The development came as the police recently registered an FIR against unidentified persons following a complaint by Sahil. He had been injured during the July 20 protest. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accompanied the 19-year-old student and sat outside the police station in a protest lasting more than six hours.