Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka have been remanded to five days of judicial custody and lodged in Tihar jail for allegedly entering Delhi’s Jantar Mantar protest site without authorisation, while Ajinkya Shinde was allowed to leave after signing a peace bond.
The three were produced before the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) on Wednesday. The magistrate ordered Das and Ranka to remain in judicial custody for five days, while Shinde was permitted to leave.
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) is scheduled to hold a meeting to determine its next course of action following the detentions. The development comes amid the party’s protest against alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the removal of Jantar Mantar’s designated status as a protest venue.
According to sources, Delhi Police registered a case against the three leaders on charges including trespassing, violating prohibitory orders, breaching a peace bond, and obstructing a public servant from performing official duties.
Earlier, CJP has claimed that its co-convenors, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, have formally been arrested by Delhi Police following the breach at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday morning.
While the Delhi Police maintained that the leaders were under ‘preventive arrest’, CJP legal affairs head Ratna Singh said in a post on X that Das, Ranka and Shinde had been arrested in connection with the Jantar Mantar breach.
Singh said the charges against them included “trespass, bond violation, obstruction of public official’s duty, etc.”
She had also claimed that there was a possibility of “judicial custody in Tihar Jail” after the CJP leaders were produced before the SCM court. “They were not allowed to meet their lawyers till late at night. They were brought to Parliament Street PS at 3 AM in a private van,” climed Singh, adding, “Despite these illegal actions, their spirits are high,” Singh added.
Ratna Singh also posted a photograph of the three from Parliament Street Police Station.
Reason behind CJP leaders detention
Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka, Ajinkya Shinde along with other Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) volunteers, entered Jantar Mantar by climbing over its locked gates on Tuesday, a day after the site lost its designated status as a protest venue.
Ranka shared a video of the incident on X, showing him, Das and the outfit’s national organisation in-charge, Ajinkya Shinde, climbing over the locked gates and entering the venue. Police personnel present at the site subsequently intervened and apprehended them. Ranka also displayed the Tricolour at the venue before Delhi Police detained the CJP leaders.
Shortly after his detention, Das shared a video on Instagram in which he said, “We have breached Jantar Mantar.” In the same video, Ranka asserted that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar would resign from Jantar Mantar “no matter what”.
Bureau Report
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