New Delhi, Oct 13: Delhi Police has filed an FIR against Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka and its other members for allegedly trespassing into the Jantar Mantar area without authorisation, officials said on Tuesday.
The action came hours after the activists entered the heavily barricaded protest site and raised slogans demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.
Jantar Mantar was recently denotified as a designated protest site.
Das, Ranka and a few other CJP members were detained early Tuesday after they allegedly entered the area in defiance of prohibitory orders.
According to the outfit, around 11 of its members were detained.
A police officer said the detained protesters were taken to Jaffarpur Kalan Police Station in Dwarka district. Security was stepped up in and around the police station after some CJP workers gathered there.
Dipke, the CJP founder, described the outfit’s action as a reclaiming of Jantar Mantar and asserted that the denotification of the protest site would not deter it from continuing its agitation.
Dipke, Das and Ranka were detained on Saturday also following their arrival in Delhi amid a major security clampdown that thwarted the outfit’s protest demanding Kumar’s resignation.
They were released a day later on the condition that they would not breach peace for a year.
Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar issued a standing order on October 11 naming Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground and CBD Ground as the new designated sites for protests and demonstrations.
The CJP said the denotification announcement came on October 12, the same day its representatives approached Parliament Street Police Station to seek a date and time for a peaceful demonstration at Jantar Mantar.
The outfit has criticised the move, arguing that shifting demonstrations away from the political centre of the national capital would weaken the visibility of public dissent.
The latest detentions come amid heightened security in New Delhi following protest calls by various organisations against Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. (PTI)
