A Delhi court on 14 October 2026 remanded two leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, to five days of judicial custody, according to LiveLaw. The order was passed by the Special Executive Magistrate Mahesh Kumar Meena. A third person, Ajinkya Shinde, was released on a personal bond, according to the same report.
The charges arise from the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, the law that replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure. LiveLaw lists Section 130, which concerns breach of a bond, and Sections 126 and 170, which concern preventive action. Other reports said the two were booked for trespassing, violation of bond conditions and obstructing public officials, according to the search summaries IndiaX24 reviewed.
The sequence of dates is given by LiveLaw. The leaders were arrested at Indira Gandhi International Airport on 10 October, preventive action was started on 11 October, the alleged trespass at Jantar Mantar took place on 13 October, and the remand order came on 14 October. The next hearing is on 19 October, which is five days after the remand, a count by IndiaX24.
The bonds are central to the case. The magistrate had earlier imposed personal and surety bonds of Rs 50,000 each, for a year, to maintain peace and good behaviour, according to LiveLaw. The police alleged that the accused made social media posts urging people to assemble at a place that is not a designated protest site, that they continued despite warnings, and that they breached their bonds.
The defence has a different account. Their advocate said the two were sent to custody for raising the slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and waving the national flag, according to the search summary of the report. IndiaX24 reports that as the advocate’s claim and has not seen the court’s reasoning.
Jantar Mantar is no longer a designated protest site, as IndiaX24 has reported in an earlier article on the Delhi Police’s order removing it. The two leaders were lodged in separate cells in Tihar Jail, according to Gulf Today’s report.
The party has called protests. The Cockroach Janta Party planned ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ protests on 16 and 17 October to demand the release of the two co-founders, according to a search summary. The party’s leadership includes Mr Das, Mr Ranka, Mr Shinde and Abhijeet Dipke, according to LiveLaw.
The party also organised the Mumbai protest of 10 October at which the actor Imran Khan was detained and later served with a notice to leave India, as IndiaX24 reports separately. The reports reviewed do not describe the party’s size, funding or programme, and IndiaX24 does not characterise it beyond what the reports state.
The custody will end on 19 October unless the court extends it or grants bail. The reports reviewed do not say whether a bail application has been filed.
The party’s name and profile have drawn attention, but the reports reviewed describe it only through its leaders and protests. IndiaX24 has reported on the Jantar Mantar protest-site order and on the Delhi lockdown during earlier protests, and this case adds the use of preventive-action provisions against organisers, though the reports do not say how often those provisions have been used.
IndiaX24 will report on the hearing on 19 October.
Image: Jantar Mantar in New Delhi (file photo). Photo by Subeesh Balan സുഭീഷ് ബാലൻ, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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