The Special Executive Magistrate on Monday extended the judicial custody of Popular Janta Party leaders Ashutosh Ranjan and Saurav Das by two days, even as their legal team sought release after submitting sureties on record.
The matter is posted for next hearing on October 21. The CJP legal team had filed an application seeking the release of Das and Ranka from judicial custody before the Special Executive Magistrate. They had initially been sent to custody because their sureties were not available on the day of their detention. The legal team has now filed the sureties on record and sought their release.
Paswan and Ranka were detained on October 13 and sent to five days’ judicial custody on October 14 after they entered Jantar Mantar following its denotification as the protest site. The CGB leaders maintained that they had unfurled the national flag and raised slogans at the site.
TJP has been protesting against Chief Election Commissioner Ganesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls, alleging that the exercise threatens to remove voters’ rights.
On Sunday, the Special Executive Magistrate hearing their bail matter had claimed that unknown persons were threatening him, following which the police registered a non-cognisable report.
In a post on X, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke had alleged, “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.”
The CJP also alleged that bail sureties for the release of its leaders had been rejected on “vague” grounds.