Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were on Monday remanded to judicial custody for two more days after being produced before a newly appointed Special Executive Magistrate at Mandir Marg police station, reported PTI.
The development comes amid allegations by the CJP that bail proceedings have been deliberately delayed to prevent the release of its two co-convenors, who were initially remanded to five days of judicial custody on October 13 following a protest at Jantar Mantar.
The two were taken into custody after they allegedly climbed over a locked gate to enter Jantar Mantar, which had earlier been de-notified as a designated protest site.
Along with other CJP workers, they displayed the national flag at the site and raised slogans against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar before being detained and placed under preventive arrest.
They were subsequently produced before a Special Executive Magistrate, who remanded them to judicial custody.
On Monday, police sought an extension of their judicial custody, following which the magistrate remanded them to jail for two more days, sources said. They will now be produced before the magistrate on Wednesday, they added.
On Sunday, the Special Executive Magistrate hearing their bail matter claimed that unknown persons had threatened him, following which police registered a non-cognisable report.
In a post on X, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke alleged that the authorities were deliberately prolonging the detention of the two leaders.
"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," he said.
"They have no legal grounds to keep them behind bars, so they are resorting to delaying tactics to keep them there," he added.
The CJP also alleged that bail sureties submitted for the release of its leaders had been rejected on "vague" grounds.
(With inputs from PTI)