Congress Leader Kanhaiya Kumar Taken Into Police Custody

After Dispute at Delhi's Kerala House

New Delhi, July 25, 2026 — Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar was taken into custody by Delhi Police on Friday evening after a heated altercation with security staff and the Resident Commissioner at Kerala

House, the Kerala government's official guest house in the national capital, over a disputed room booking.

According to reports, Kumar arrived at the Kerala House reception on Friday evening claiming that he had a room booked in his name through a friend. When officials at the reception asked him to produce documentation confirming the booking, Kumar reportedly grew irritated and refused to show proof, telling staff that he did not have internet access to retrieve the confirmation. Despite this, he insisted on proceeding to the room, prompting Kerala House staff to stop him at the reception.

A verbal argument broke out between Kumar and the staff, which escalated after Resident Commissioner Puneeth Kumar arrived at the scene. According to accounts of the incident, Kumar and the Resident Commissioner exchanged sharp words before Kerala House officials alerted the Delhi Police. Police personnel subsequently arrived at the premises and took Kumar into custody.

Separately, Kumar has given his own account of the episode, alleging that after he was initially allotted a room, staff later told him it was needed for an incoming visit by a governor and asked him to vacate it. He alleged that officials behaved discourteously toward him during the process, and, taking a swipe at the Union government, remarked that the conduct on display reflected the "attitude" associated with Union Home Minister Amit Shah — a comment consistent with Kumar's long-running pattern of directing sharp political criticism at senior BJP leaders, including Shah, dating back to his years as a student leader at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

As of Saturday morning, there has been no confirmation of a formal case or FIR having been registered against Kumar in connection with the incident, and reports have consistently described the police action as him being "taken into custody" rather than a formal arrest under a specific charge. The Congress party has not yet issued an official statement on the episode, though the incident has quickly drawn attention on social media and among regional news outlets, particularly in Kerala, given Kerala House's status as an official extension of the state government in Delhi.

Kanhaiya Kumar, a former JNU Students' Union president who rose to national prominence during the 2016 JNU sedition controversy, joined the Congress in 2021 after quitting the CPI and now serves as the All India Congress Committee's in-charge of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the party's student wing. He contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from the North East Delhi constituency against the BJP's Manoj Tiwari, and has since remained a visible face of the Congress's youth and student mobilisation efforts, frequently leading protests and marches on issues ranging from unemployment to alleged government failures on examination integrity.

The Kerala House episode comes at a moment of heightened political tension in the capital, with Delhi's Jantar Mantar area still at the centre of a large, sustained protest led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination and broader demands for education-sector accountability. Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had joined that agitation, ended a 26-day hunger strike only a day earlier, on July 24, after receiving written assurances from the Centre. Congress leaders, including Kumar, have been vocal supporters of the protesting students, with senior party figures accusing the government of failing to act on repeated examination paper leaks over the past decade.

While the Kerala House dispute appears, on the available facts, to be a standalone matter over a hotel-style room booking rather than a politically motivated confrontation, its timing — amid a week of high-profile face-offs between Congress-aligned leaders and Delhi Police over the ongoing student protests — has ensured it has attracted outsized attention. Kerala House, run by the Kerala government as accommodation for state officials, legislators and dignitaries visiting Delhi, has itself been the site of political controversy in the past, including a widely reported 2015 police raid.

Further details on whether any formal complaint has been filed by either Kerala House officials or Kumar himself, and on the current status of his custody, are awaited. This report will be updated as confirmed information becomes available.