New Delhi: Retired senior bureaucrat Ashish Joshi was taken for questioning by the Delhi Police Special Cell from Nehru Park during his morning run and allowed to return home nearly 10 hours later, raising questions over what prompted the lengthy interrogation.
Joshi, a 1992-batch officer of the Indian Post and Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service, retired on March 31, 2026, after serving at the rank of additional secretary in the Government of India. He has since been a vocal critic of the Narendra Modi government on social media.
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Upon his return Joshi wrote a detailed post on X giving details of the ordeal he went through during close to 10 hours interrogation. "Yesterday, I was taken for interrogation after my morning walk under the assurance that it would take very little time. However, as the hours stretched on, my repeated requests to inform my wife of my whereabouts ,the concerned Police Officials/Officer simply stated they were "following instructions.", wrote Joshi.
I was only permitted to make a call at 6:38 PM, leaving my family & friends in total panic the entire day." Joshi mentioned further. He wrote "Informing an individual's family during interrogation or detention is a legal mandate, not an optional courtesy" as Delhi police did not even inform his family which was anxious for hours because his phone was turned off.
While Delhi Police had not publicly explained the grounds for questioning Joshi at the time of the report, a friend who said he witnessed him being taken away claimed that police officers referred specifically to a social-media post concerning Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The identity of the post that allegedly triggered the questioning remains unclear. However, one of Joshi's posts dated August 13, 2026, was subsequently withheld on X in India following a legal demand.
The eyewitness, who requested anonymity, said he and Joshi were at Nehru Park on Wednesday morning when two men approached the retired bureaucrat. “We were sitting under the Lenin statue at Nehru Park around 8:40 or so when I went off to drink some water. When I returned a few minutes later, I saw two young men approaching and then talking to Joshi,” news website The Wire has reported sourcing the eyewitness who happened to be Joshi's friend.
According to him, the men identified themselves as officers of the Delhi Police Special Cell in New Friends Colony and were carrying a folder. “They told Joshi, ‘You have tweeted against the home minister and we have been ordered by DCP Chandra and ACP Kushwaha to take you in for interrogation’,” the eyewitness was quoted as saying.
That claim assumes significance because, if accurate, it would directly link the questioning of a retired senior government official to his social-media activity.
The friend said he asked the officers why they could not question Joshi at the park itself. According to his account, the officers responded that they had traced Joshi's location to Nehru Park because they were required to take him to the Special Cell for questioning.
The witness then suggested that Joshi at least be allowed to return home and change out of his “nickkar”, or shorts, before accompanying the officers. Joshi, however, reportedly told them that he had no problem going in the clothes he was wearing.
Joshi and one of the officers subsequently left in the retired bureaucrat's car, while the second officer got into a police vehicle parked near the Japanese embassy, according to the eyewitness.
The friend said he later drove to the New Friends Colony police station seeking information about Joshi, but personnel there denied having any knowledge of him.
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Adding to the uncertainty surrounding his whereabouts during the day, Joshi's mobile phone remained switched off and came back online only at 5:23 pm, according to another friend cited in the report.
A couple of hours later, Joshi posted on X that he had returned home.
In his later post Joshi revealed he was eventually allowed to leave after nearly 10 hours of questioning, with personnel from the Delhi Police Special Cell dropping him home.
There are many questions that remain unanswered because of the absence of an official explanation — including whether any case or complaint has been registered, the legal provision under which Joshi was called or taken for questioning, whether he was served a notice, which social-media post was under examination, and whether any electronic device or other material was sought or seized during the questioning.
Until Delhi Police or Joshi provides a detailed account, the precise basis of the nearly 10-hour questioning remains unclear.
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