Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-conveners Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka appeared before the Delhi Police Crime Branch in Rajouri Garden on Thursday, three weeks after a seven-day stint in Tihar jail over a flag-waving protest at Jantar Mantar.
The pair reached the Crime Branch office at about 11 am, police sources said, after being summoned for noon. They are being questioned in two FIRs, first registered at the Connaught Place and Parliament Street police stations, over the October 13 entry by 14 CJP members into Jantar Mantar — which had been stripped of its status as Delhi’s designated protest site two days earlier.
The two had been summoned earlier in October but skipped that date and sought more time, according to IANS.
Timeline
Dates from LiveLaw, LawBeat, The News Minute, Deccan Herald and IANS reports · Oct 10 to Nov 5, 2026
The custody turned on the October 11 peace bonds: they were signed the same day Jantar Mantar lost its protest-site status, and the protest came two days later.
What happened at Jantar Mantar
On October 13, Das, Ranka, CJP leader Ajinkya Shinde and 11 others reached Jantar Mantar and unfurled the national flag, police say — by going through private premises, according to a PTI-based report, or by climbing a locked gate, according to The News Minute.
The group was protesting alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and raised slogans demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Police stopped them, detained all 14 and registered two FIRs.
The 14 were not treated alike. Shinde was released on a bail bond; Das and Ranka were held because, police said, the protest broke peace bonds they had signed only two days earlier.
Custody, the courts and release
The case against Das and Ranka rests on a bond, not just the trespass. On October 10 they were taken off a flight on landing in Delhi and preventively arrested under Sections 126 and 170 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), ahead of a planned protest against the CEC. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke was held with them.
They were let go on October 11 after furnishing peace bonds of ₹50,000 each. Section 126 lets an executive magistrate demand such a bond for up to a year from anyone likely to breach the peace. Police said the October 13 protest broke that bond.
- October 14: Executive Magistrate Mahesh Kumar Meena remanded both to five days’ judicial custody, citing the bond breach and alleged efforts to mobilise people for protests at Jantar Mantar.
- October 19: Special Executive Magistrate Ritu Raj — an Assistant Commissioner of Police acting as SEM — extended custody by two days, finding the sureties offered unfit and holding that the bonds had been deliberately breached.
- October 20–21: The pair moved the Delhi High Court, arguing the extension was arbitrary because valid sureties had been produced. Justice Subramonium Prasad told them to await the SEM hearing; they withdrew the plea, with no ruling on merits.
- October 21: The SEM rejected a police request for three more days and ordered their release on personal and surety bonds of ₹50,000 each, valid until the inquiry ends. They walked out of Tihar that evening.
In written undertakings, both promised not to breach the peace and to refrain from calling protests at Jantar Mantar while it remains de-notified, and expressed faith in the judiciary, including the SEM court.
Why Jantar Mantar was off-limits
Jantar Mantar had been Delhi’s protest address since 1993. A standing order by Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar dated October 11 de-notified it and named Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and CBD Ground in East Delhi as the new venues, citing a Supreme Court order of October 9 that asked for alternative sites.
The move is under challenge. On October 15 a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notice on a plea by advocate Swaty Singh and said it would examine whether authorities had considered Jantar Mantar’s use as a protest site. ( In its reply, Delhi Police has argued the area should never have hosted protests.
The CJP and the SIR protest
The CJP is a youth-led satirical movement launched online on May 16, 2026 by Abhijeet Dipke, after the Chief Justice’s “cockroaches” remark about unemployed youth. It is not registered with the Election Commission. Its June–July protests over exam paper leaks ended with Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation on July 25.
Its current campaign targets the SIR of electoral rolls, which it says removed eligible voters. The CJP demands CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and backed the INDIA bloc’s November 1 rally on the same demand. The irregularity allegations are the CJP’s and the opposition’s; they have not been established by any court or inquiry.
Dates from Wikipedia’s CJP article and the October–November reports cited below · May 16 to Nov 5, 2026
The summer exam protests ended in a ministerial resignation; the autumn SIR campaign has so far ended in custody and two FIRs.
What comes next
The Crime Branch now holds both FIRs, transferred in the week of October 19. (Deccan Herald) Two things to watch: whether it files a chargesheet after Thursday’s questioning, and how the Supreme Court rules on the de-notification — which decides whether Jantar Mantar protests are lawful at all. Their ₹50,000 bonds stay in force until the SEM inquiry ends.
- ☐ Open question: what offences the two FIRs invoke has not been reported.
Fact-check notes on the original copy
| In the original | What sources show | Fix applied |
| Incident on October 14 | Entry and detention were October 13; remand was October 14 | Dated October 13 |
| “Arrested” on October 13 | Detained October 13; first arrest was preventive, on October 10 | “Detained”, with October 10 added |
| SEM Ritu Raj ordered release | Correct; Ritu Raj also signed the October 19 extension. The first remand was by Mahesh Kumar Meena | Both named |
| “Around a week” in Tihar | Seven days of judicial custody, October 14–21 (CJP counts eight from detention) | “Seven days” |
| Undertaking text | Also included a pledge not to call Jantar Mantar protests while it stays de-notified | Added |
| Crime Branch summons | Two FIRs, Connaught Place and Parliament Street stations | Stations named |
