Almost four days after the Cockroach Janta Party’s co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were sent to judicial custody for unfurling the national flag at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, the CJP has accused the Delhi Police of intentionally delaying the release of Ranka and Das for days and not accepting the surety bonds submitted by them.
‘Faulty surety bonds’: What the police said
A special executive magistrate at Mandir Marg is yet to give an order to release the duo. Since no sound surety has been produced at this stage, and to maintain public peace and order, the respondents are remanded to Judicial Custody for a period of five days. “Every day is a new struggle. We have now filed multiple surety bonds. Taken help from top Supreme Court lawyers, but the police are not ready to accept. But he didn’t mean any planning or protest. They are nitpicking statements from videos, delaying and giving lame excuses. It was then that they started accusing us of sending the message. How is it related to the case? They keep giving excuses by not verifying sureties, or approving FDs. It was visible how they orchestrated this. We have followed all procedures, but they are not even ready to listen to the case. This is a conspiracy by Delhi Police. They just want to extend custody,” Ratna noted. We have to follow procedure. We have to delay the hearing. We have filed an FIR and are conducting an enquiry.”
“Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that notice under Section 130 BNSS be issued to the respondents. List the matter on 19.10.26 for further enquiry,” reads the order.
Police denied allegations of delay and said due procedure is being followed. A senior police officer said, “They have been filing faulty surety bonds, and we can’t accept them. He said he can’t do the job under threat and at such risk.
The Delhi Police on Sunday said the SEM hearing the case has received threats and lodged an FIR. Today, they told Ratna Singh (CJP legal affairs head) that the SEM is getting threats if he releases the duo, and a new magistrate needs to come. The SEM also told the lawyers that Abhijeet, while leaving Delhi today, said the party needs to strategise. Tomorrow, I’m sure there will be a holiday, and the procedure will get delayed again,” the CJP national secretary stated. “Within about five minutes of the proceedings, the SEM told the court that he had received a threatening message and said he would come tomorrow. On Sunday evening, the SEM informed us he received threatening messages from CJP about the bail.
