'Dirty tricks to prolong illegal arrest': Dipke as CJP awaits Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das' release

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke levied serious allegations against authorities yesterday (18 October), claiming "the state is deliberately prolonging" the arrest of CJP spokespersons Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, who were earlier sent to judicial custody. 

These remarks by Dipke came days after Ranka and Das were arrested for allegedly entering the Jantar Mantar area despite police orders. Over the past few weeks, Delhi has seen massive protests by CJP and the Opposition against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over the alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Taking to X, the CJP founder wrote, "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," he added. 

What Ratna Singh said about judicial custody of CJP's Das and Ranka

In the post, Dipke shared a video of CJP's legal head Ratna Singh speaking to the media about the judicial custody of CJP co-convenors Das and Ranka.

"We have been here since morning. We were told that the entire hearing would take place at 12pm. Today, everything was complete, the verification was done, and all requirements were met. We have been waiting here since noon," she said.

Ratna said that the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) reached the police station by 1:30pm but did not enter the courtroom until 5pm.

"The SEM was at the police station by 1:30pm, but he did not enter the courtroom until 5pm. When he finally arrived, he refused to hear our case on its merits regarding whether Saurav and Ashutosh should be released from judicial custody. Instead, he made arbitrary remarks." 

"The public prosecutor, who had not appeared at the police station for the last four days, was present today," she added.

Speaking about the proceedings, Ratna claimed that the SEM told the court that he had received a threatening message.

The legal head of CJP further said, "Within about five minutes of the proceedings, the SEM told the court that he had received a threatening message. From that point on, the entire discussion revolved solely around that message. It is clear that this entire episode was orchestrated."
"They had decided beforehand to come into the courtroom and focus exclusively on this alleged threatening message, completely bypassing whether the formalities required for Saurav and Ashutosh's release were fulfilled," she said.

CJP's Dipke granted conditional bail

Earlier on Saturday, Dipke was granted conditional bail, a day after he was detained on his way to Connaught Place in Delhi and subsequently arrested.

Meanwhile, CJP spokespersons Das and Ranka were sent to five days of judicial custody on Wednesday, a day after they breached the de-notified Jantar Mantar protest site.