CJP leaders’ judicial custody extended by two days

NEW DELHI: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were on Monday sent to judicial remand for two more days after being produced before a newly appointed Special Executive Magistrate at the Mandir Marg police station, an official said.

The development came amid allegations by CJP that the bail proceedings in the case were deliberately delayed to prevent the release of its two co-convenors, who were initially sent to five-day judicial custody on October 13 after they defied restrictions to protest at Jantar Mantar.

The two were taken into custody after they allegedly climbed over a locked gate to enter Jantar Mantar, which had earlier been denotified as a designated protest site.

Along with other CJP workers, they displayed the national flag at the site and shouted slogans against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar before being detained and placed under preventive arrest. They were subsequently produced before a Special Executive Magistrate, who remanded them to judicial custody.

On Monday, the police sought an extension of the two leaders’ judicial custody and the court sent them to jail for two more days, sources said. They will now be produced on Wednesday, they said.

On Sunday, the Special Executive Magistrate, hearing their bail matter, had claimed that unknown persons were threatening him, following which the police registered a non-cognisable report.

In a post on X, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke had alleged, “The state is deliberately prolonging Ashu and Saurav’s illegal arrest by using every dirty trick in the book to delay court proceedings and prevent their release.

“They have no legal grounds to keep them behind bars, so they are resorting to delaying tactics to keep them there.” CJP also alleged that bail sureties for the release of its leaders had been rejected on “vague” grounds.