NEW DELHI: Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka appeared before the Delhi Police Crime Branch on Thursday in connection with the October 13 Jantar Mantar protest, which led to their detention on charges of trespassing at the denotified protest site.The two CJP leaders reached the Crime Branch office in Rajouri Garden after being summoned to join the investigation. Fellow CJP leader Ajinkya Shinde was also summoned in the case.Das, Ranka and Shinde had earlier skipped questioning scheduled for October 22. Ranka had said they could not appear on the scheduled date and had informed the police about their inability to attend. The leaders were awaiting fresh dates for questioning, he had said.“We are waiting to hear from them. We have not received a specific date yet. We could not make it on the previous date, and we had informed them about that. They said they would confirm the timings, so we are waiting for the Crime Branch to get back to us,” Ranka had said.
The police had detained Das and Ranka following the October 13 protest at Jantar Mantar, which had been denotified as a designated protest site. According to the police, the leaders entered the area through private premises and violated conditions imposed to maintain peace.The two CJP leaders were released from judicial custody on October 21 by the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) court after furnishing personal and surety bonds and submitting written undertakings to maintain peace and abide by the law.In their undertakings, Das and Ranka promised not to breach peace or disturb public tranquillity. They also agreed not to call for protests at Jantar Mantar until the site is denotified in accordance with the law, and said any future demonstrations would be held within the constitutional framework.