Uday Bhanu Chib, the National President of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), has been apprehended by Delhi Police in connection with the shirtless demonstration at Bharat Mandapan at the AI Impact Summit on 20th February. The development occurred on 24th February (Tuesday) following multiple rounds of questioning.
Chib was questioned for almost 15 to 20 hours at the Tilak Marg police station before he was taken into custody, marking the 8th arrest in the case. According to reports, he attempted to deceive the investigators and refused to participate during the process. However, the authorities have enough proof against him. He was later presented before the Patiala House Court by the police, requesting a seven-day remand and referring to him as the “mastermind.”
VIDEO | Delhi: Youth Congress Chief Uday Bhanu Chib (@UdayBhanuIYC) produced before the Patiala House Court in AI Summit Protest Case.
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 24, 2026
(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/s0FE5P3uG5
The accused must be taken to several places for investigation, the Delhi Police told the court, adding that people from different parts of the nation were involved. “This is a larger conspiracy that has taken inspiration from the Gen Z protests in Nepal. The accused need to be confronted with each other as well as with digital evidence. This is a very important investigation,” they noted.
However, Chib’s attorney countered that his client neither attended the protest nor gave any directives about it, alleging, “He was neither communicating with anyone nor issuing any instructions.”
A senior police officer stated, “We suspect his role as among the main conspirators, for holding the protest at Bharat Mandapam,” reported The Indian Express. The financial trail of the protest, including the money used to print the phrases on the T-shirts, and the suspected conspiracy angle, is also being investigated by authorities.
A day earlier, 24-year-old Raja Gujar, 36-year-old Ajay Kumar and Jitendra Singh Yadav, also in his 30’s, were nabbed by the police for taking part in the agitation. The three IYC members were arrested from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.
Yadav has been the IYC’s national coordinator since 2024, in addition to being a member of the National Students Union of India (NSUI). Gujar was the previous district president of IYC Gwalior, and Kumar has served as the vice-president of IYC Bhind. On Monday, both were taken into custody.
Krishna Hari, the national secretary of the Youth Congress, Kundan Yadav, the state secretary of the Bihar Youth Congress, Ajay Kumar, the vice president of the Uttar Pradesh Youth Congress and Narasimha Yadav, the national coordinator of the Youth Congress, were all immediately nabbed from the location and placed under five-day police custody on 21st February (Saturday).
Nearly 11 individuals staged a “shirtless protest” during the AI Impact Summit on the day before. They used QR codes to enter the location after completing the required online registration process. They were hiding T-shirts with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photo printed on them beneath their sweaters and jackets.
According to police, several of them took off their outfits after entering Bharat Mandapam’s auditorium number five and yelled anti-Modi slogans. The incident happened during a high-level summit at approximately 12:30 pm in one of the halls housing the AI Impact Expo.
Afterwards, the Delhi Police filed a formal complaint at Tilak Marg Police Station under the charges of criminal conspiracy, causing harm to a public servant, assault on a public servant, disobeying a public servant’s order and unlawful assembly. They invoked sections 61(2), 121(1), 132, 195(1), 221, 223(A), 190, 196, 197 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against them.
