Fourteen members of the Cockroach Janta Party, including its leaders Ashutosh Ranka, Saurav Das and Ajinkya Shinde, were detained after allegedly entering the barricaded Jantar Mantar protest site through a narrow lane behind the Janata Dal (United) office in Delhi, police sources said. The detention followed the Delhi Police’s announcement that Jantar Mantar was no longer a designated site for protests.
According to police sources cited by The Indian Express, the group entered the protest area on Tuesday morning after crossing a locked iron gate on the JD(U) office premises. The members allegedly used a lane connecting to Janpath Lane, which was less heavily guarded than the main roads around Jantar Mantar. The group then unfurled the Tricolour and raised slogans including “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Inquilab Zindabad”.
The CJP had issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the police, seeking a date to hold an agitation against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Jantar Mantar. Police personnel had been deployed on both sides of Jantar Mantar Road after the group’s demand and the subsequent restrictions. The party also shared a video of the entry on social media.
The detained members were taken to Jafrabad police station, around 40 kilometres from Jantar Mantar, and remained there since the morning, according to the report. Police had not taken a final decision on whether to register a First Information Report, conduct further investigation or continue the detention.
Advocate Pushp Sharma, who represents the detained members, told The Indian Express that he had been trying to contact police officers to establish where the group was being held and whether the members would be formally arrested or released. Sharma said he had been in contact with Ranka around the time of the detention, but that Ranka later messaged that the group’s phones were being taken away.
Sharma also said police officers told him that the members had not been arrested but that their detention was the reason they were not being allowed to meet their lawyers. The report did not include a response from the police to the lawyer’s specific allegations.
The action came days after Ranka and Das were released following 24 hours in preventive detention. Their release was reportedly subject to a condition that they would not engage in activity capable of disturbing public peace for one year.
The incident places renewed attention on how Delhi manages access to public protest spaces. Jantar Mantar has historically served as a controlled location for demonstrations, with restrictions intended to regulate crowds, traffic and public order. Any change in its designation directly affects where political groups and citizens can assemble, while detentions and restrictions on legal access raise procedural questions that remain unresolved in this case.
The immediate next step rests with the Delhi Police, which is considering whether to file an FIR, pursue further investigation or release the detained members.
