On a quiet Saturday morning, shortly after seven o’clock, more than twenty people in plain clothes arrived at the Gurugram residence of YouTuber Dhruv Rathee. They pushed past his mother and entered his bedroom, where they dragged him out without giving him a chance to put on slippers.
The group, described as numbering twenty or more, kept Rathee in their custody and transported him to a Gurugram police station. According to his account, he was not allowed to contact anyone, and his phone was taken away. He also said he was denied access to a lawyer during the entire episode. While inside the station, Rathee claimed he was made to sit for about twenty hours, a period during which he received no explanation for his detention and was never shown any notice or warrant.
I did not sign any bond I did not sign any undertaking I did not sign any condition for release For all the media houses ^
Rathee’s allegations extend beyond the loss of liberty. He said that the plainclothes individuals who seized him also turned their aggression toward his family, beating his relatives in the process. He showed his Indian passport to anyone who would listen, insisting that, as a citizen, he possessed the same rights to protest and speak as anyone else. In his view, the treatment he received resembled tactics used in authoritarian states, and he openly compared the incident to actions seen in countries like North Korea.
After his release late Saturday, Rathee turned to social media to tell his side of the story.
After his release late Saturday, Rathee turned to social media to tell his side of the story. He posted a video on Sunday afternoon in which he declared, “I was not arrested or detained, I was KIDNAPPED.” The same message appeared in a tweet dated October 11, 2026, where he thanked his supporters for standing by him. In the video, he reiterated his citizenship, displaying his passport once more to counter any suggestion that he was a foreign national attempting to influence domestic protests.
Dhruv rathee “i was KIDNAPPED and beaten by the Delhi Police” Delhi police has done it 🤣🔥 https://t.co/Jqsem9F5mB
Throughout the episode, the Gurugram Police have not issued any official statement regarding the alleged detention. Reports had suggested that Rathee might have been taken into custody ahead of a planned protest against the Chief Election Commissioner, but the YouTuber’s own account maintains that the men who seized him never identified themselves as law enforcement. The absence of an official comment has left the situation resting on his testimony and the video evidence he shared.
Now, days after the incident, the timeline remains anchored to the details Rathee provided: the alleged abduction on October 10, 2026, his release and video statement on October 11, and the specific times he cited—being taken at roughly 9:30 a.m., held for about twenty hours, and freed around 3:00 p.m. While his claims of being denied legal notice, phone access, and counsel, as well as the alleged beating of his family, stand unchallenged by an official rebuttal, the lack of a police response means the public narrative continues to be shaped by the YouTuber’s own recounting of events.
At present, the situation is defined by a clash between Rathee’s version of events—marked by claims of kidnapping, prolonged detention without charge, and family intimidation—and the official silence from the Gurugram Police. Until further information emerges, the story rests on the facts he has presented: the arrival of more than twenty plainclothes individuals at his home, the approximate twenty‑hour stint at the station, his display of Indian passport, and his tweet dated October 11, 2026, in which he proclaimed he had been kidnapped rather than arrested.
