Kartik Naik was picked up by the Kashipur police on 19 September, 2024 around 11.30 am. Thousands of villagers from the Tijimali region marched to the police station to demand his release under false and fabricated charges. The defender is one of the leading Dalit activists from the anti-mining group Ma Maati Maali Surakhya Manch (Rayagada-Kalahandi) in Odisha. Kartik is among the activists who are resisting the setting up of a bauxite mine in the Sijimali/Tijmali hills in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts of South Odisha by Vedanta Ltd.