CJP leaders Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka's judicial custody extended by two days amid bail delay claims

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were on Monday remanded to judicial custody for another two days after being produced before a newly appointed Special Executive Magistrate at the Mandir Marg police station, an official said.

The extension came amid allegations by the CJP that the bail proceedings of the two leaders were being deliberately delayed to prevent their release. They were initially remanded to five days of judicial custody on October 13 after allegedly defying restrictions to stage a protest at Jantar Mantar.

Das and Ranka were taken into custody after they allegedly climbed over a locked gate to enter Jantar Mantar, which had been denotified as a designated protest site. Along with other CJP workers, they displayed the national flag and raised slogans against Chief Election Commissioner 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 their custody, and the magistrate ordered that they remain in jail for another two days. The duo will be produced before the magistrate again on Wednesday, sources said.

The latest development follows a claim by the Special Executive Magistrate hearing their bail applications on Sunday that unidentified persons had threatened him. The police subsequently registered a non-cognisable report in connection with the allegation.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, in a post on X, accused the authorities of deliberately delaying the proceedings to prevent the leaders' release.

“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,” he alleged.

“They have no legal grounds to keep them behind bars, so they are resorting to delaying tactics to keep them there,” he added.

The CJP also alleged that the bail sureties submitted for the release of its leaders had been rejected on “vague” grounds.
(With PTI inputs)