The judicial custody of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das was extended by two days on Monday. The duo had initially been remanded to five days of judicial custody on October 14 after being arrested for allegedly scaling the locked gates of Delhi's Jantar Mantar, which was recently denotified as an authorised protest site. They were detained on October 13 and sent to judicial custody the following day.
Ranka and Das were produced before a Special Executive Magistrate at Mandir Marg police station for the required proceedings, after which they were taken back to Tihar Jail. They are scheduled to appear before the magistrate again on Wednesday, according to a report by NDTV.
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The CJP has accused the authorities of deliberately delaying legal proceedings to keep its leaders in custody. The party maintains that the two leaders had entered the premises to hoist the national flag and raise slogans. It has also continued to contest the decision to revoke Jantar Mantar's designation as an authorised protest site.
"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 leader Abhijeet Dipke said in a social media post yesterday.
The party's legal chief, Ratna Singh, also alleged that the Delhi Police and state authorities had hindered proceedings before the Special Executive Magistrate, claiming that a hearing scheduled for noon was delayed by several hours.
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The arrests came amid the CJP's campaign targeting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The CJP has claimed that the revision exercise poses a threat to voters' rights, making it a key focus of its protests against the Election Commission. The organisation has also challenged the removal of Jantar Mantar's status as a designated protest site, maintaining through its actions that the change should not restrict its members' right to demonstrate.
On October 13-14, 2026, Ranka and Das, accompanied by party workers and carrying the national flag, visited Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to protest electoral governance issues and raise slogans against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The gathering took place soon after Delhi Police withdrew Jantar Mantar's status as an authorised protest site. CJP described the move as an effort to “reclaim” the historic venue for demonstrations.
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