On Tuesday morning, three leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party – Ashutosh Ranka, Saurav Das and Ajinkya Shinde – were placed under preventive arrest by Delhi Police. The police said the trio had entered the Jantar Mantar area without authorization after crossing barricades that had been set up around the site. The activists were accused of trespassing, violating prohibitory orders, breaching a peace bond and obstructing a public servant while performing official duties. The police registered a case containing these charges.
The allegations against the leaders include entering a protest venue that had recently been denotified, raising slogans demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and allegedly attempting to mobilise others to join the protest. Police argued before the magistrate that there was a presumption the accused might commit a crime if they remained at large. The claims also state that the leaders had made a call asking people to gather at Jantar Mantar, which the police characterised as criminal trespass.
CJP’s legal team head, Ratna Singh, said the three leaders were brought to Parliament Street police station in a private van at 3 a.m. She added that they were not permitted to meet their lawyers until late at night. Ratna Singh also noted that the leaders had been arrested and were being held at the police station, and that their spirits remained high despite what she described as unlawful treatment.
The police maintained that all three had entered the restricted area without permission.
Two of the activists, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were subsequently sent to five days of judicial custody on October 14. The order was issued by a Special Executive Magistrate after a confrontation between protesters and police, during which the demonstration was restricted. The third activist, Ajinkya Shinde, was released on a personal bond and stated that the group had only waved the Indian flag and shouted patriotic slogans such as "Vande Mataram". The police maintained that all three had entered the restricted area without permission.
The detention took place against a backdrop of changing rules for public demonstrations in Delhi. On October 11, Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar had designated Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground and CBD Ground as authorised protest venues. Following that order, Jantar Mantar was denotified, meaning it was no longer an authorised site for demonstrations. The police said the activists had entered the area despite this change in status.
Ajinkya Shinde, after his release on a personal bond, said that he, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, together with CJP volunteers, had gone towards Jantar Mantar and simply waved the national flag and shouted patriotic slogans. Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, criticised the arrests on social media, accusing the government of using police tactics to suppress dissent and urging officials to show the courage to declare an Emergency openly if they intended to crush opposition.
The detentions occurred amid heightened security in Delhi linked to protests over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The security measures were part of the response to those protests, which had prompted the police to re‑designate certain grounds for demonstrations and to withdraw Jantar Mantar’s status as a protest venue.
