Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Sunday alleged that the release of detained leaders, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, was being delayed by the state.
"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," wrote Dipke in a post on X.
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.
— Abhijeet Dipke (@abhijeet_dipke) October 18, 2026
Das and Ranka were sent to five days of judicial custody on October 14 after they entered Jantar Mantar, which had been denotified as a designated protest site, by scaling its locked gates. The CJP leaders maintained that they had unfurled the national flag and raised slogans.
CJP legal head Ratna Singh also said that the bail hearing of the two detained leaders was being delayed as the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) did not arrive at the scheduled time and alleged that four sureties had been rejected on "vague" grounds.
In a post on X, Singh said she had been at the police station since 11 am, while the hearing was scheduled for noon. She said the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP/SEM) had not arrived at the Mandir Marg police station by 4.42 pm.
"This is really concerning. They have rejected 4 sureties till now on vague reasons. They have made people who have FIRs against them for being part of protest as people having criminal antecedents (sic)," Singh alleged.
There was no response from police on the allegations.
On Saturday, the CJP said in a post on X that it had consulted senior advocate Kapil Sibal and warned of legal action if Das and Ranka were not released by Sunday.
"If Ashu and Saurav are not released by tomorrow, we will pursue legal action against all those who deliberately ensured that they continue to be in illegal custody, especially when they have not committed nor charged with any offence," the outfit had said.
"The deliberate use of delaying tactics to keep them behind bars cannot go unchallenged. Those responsible will be held accountable," it added.
The outfit has been protesting against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that the exercise threatens voters' rights.
(With inputs from PTI)
