Two more days' remand for Cockroach Janta Party co-conveners Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka

A special executive magistrate on Monday extended the judicial custody of Cockroach Janta Party co-conveners Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka for two more days, sources said.

The duo had been arrested for “trespassing” into a private property to reach Jantar Mantar, de-notified as a protest site last week.

Sources said the police sought an extension of their judicial custody, alleging they had violated an earlier bond requiring them to maintain peace. The CJP argues that carrying out a peaceful protest does not violate the bond.

Das and Ranka were presented before the SEM at Mandir Marg police station in the afternoon although their initial five days of judicial custody had expired hours earlier in the morning. (They had been sent to five days’ judicial custody on the morning of October 14.)

Advocate Abhik Chimni, representing Das and Ranka, told reporters the police had sought an extension of their judicial custody on the ground that both CJP leaders were an imminent threat to public order and public tranquillity.

"It is very unfortunate, and everyone must remember that there is currently no FIR against my clients in connection with this issue… and no investigation for which they need to be questioned. This concerns preventive custody," he said.

"They have been detained out of fear that they might go and protest. This is absolutely appalling and deeply disturbing. I cannot remember the last time people were kept in preventive custody under such circumstances. We will pursue the matter legally, but this has been hugely disappointing for all of us."

The CJP condemned the SEM court proceedings, terming the continued detention of Das and Ranka as a complete mockery of the legal process and as state-sponsored overreach. CJP legal head Ratna Singh said the proceedings were a farce designed to crush democratic voices. "Our advocates spoke strictly on points of law, yet the authorities failed to present a single piece of evidence showing any threat to public peace," she said.

Singh had on Sunday alleged a “conspiracy” not to release Das and Ranka, saying a prospective “hearing” on their case had been aborted earlier in the day.

After Monday's proceedings, as she waited for the SEM’s order, Singh wrote on X: “There is no reason to extend judicial custody. Today also no argument presented by Public Prosecutor on law. All his arguments were mere assumptions. Absolute waste of time of SEM court."