New Delhi: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Ashutosh Ranka, Saurav Das and Ajinkya Shinde have been placed under preventive arrest after allegedly entering the Jantar Mantar area without permission, officials said on Wednesday. The three are expected to be produced before a magistrate.
They were detained in the early hours of Tuesday after police said they crossed barricades and entered the protest site, which has recently been removed as a designated venue for demonstrations. The leaders reportedly raised slogans seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Police File Case
A case has been registered against them for offences including trespassing, violation of prohibitory orders, breach of a peace bond and obstructing a public servant from performing official duties, sources said.
The three are likely to be brought before the Special Court of the Executive Magistrate (SEM) on Wednesday morning, sources added.
Ranka and Das had earlier furnished a bond to maintain peace for a year following their detention during a protest in the national capital on Saturday, officials said.
CJP legal team head Ratna Singh, however, claimed that the three had been arrested and were lodged at Parliament Street Police Station, as reported by The New Indian Express.
Party Flags Detention
Singh said on X that the CJP leaders were shifted to Parliament Street Police Station in a privately hired vehicle around 3 am, adding that they were unable to speak to their legal representatives until late that night.
“FYI, 24 hours timeline will end soon,” she said, adding that they could be sent to judicial custody in Tihar Jail after being produced before the SEM. “Despite these illegal actions, their spirits are high,” Singh added.
The police action has taken place against the backdrop of increased security arrangements in Delhi, where the CJP and several other organisations have held protests alleging irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar, in an order issued on October 11, named Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground and CBD Ground as approved locations for demonstrations. Jantar Mantar was subsequently dropped as a designated protest venue.
The CJP has objected to the decision, contending that moving demonstrations away from the heart of the national capital would dilute the visibility of public dissent.