New Delhi: Delhi Police’s crime branch summoned Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) representatives Sourav Das and Ashutosh Ranka to its Rajouri Garden office Thursday for questioning in connection with two cases registered over a protest at Jantar Mantar on Oct 13.After police denotified Jantar Mantar as a protest site, CJP co-convenors Das and Ranka, along with 14 others of their outfit, attempted to hold a protest there on Oct 13. They scaled barricades, entered the site and waved the Indian Tricolour. However, they were soon surrounded and taken away by police. The next day, the duo was arrested for alleged trespassing. Das and Ranka were sent to judicial custody. Ajinkya Shinde, who briefly became the face of the movement in Abhijeet Dipke’s absence, was bound down after arrest.Police sources said Thursday that the duo did not appear for questioning and sought more time. The crime branch is likely to issue fresh notices to them, they added.One FIR, at Connaught Place police station, invokes sections 223 (disobedience of an order duly promulgated by a public servant), 332 (house-trespass to commit an offence) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).Another FIR at Parliament Street police station invokes sections 221 (obstructing a public servant in the discharge of public functions), 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from duty), 121 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to deter a public servant from duty) and 3(5) (common intention) of the BNS.Das and Ranka were released Wednesday after furnishing personal and surety bonds of Rs 50,000 each and giving an undertaking before special executive magistrate Ritu Raj, an ACP in Delhi Police.“I undertake and promise not to commit any breach of peace… That we reiterate our undertaking… towards peace, law and order, public tranquillity and further we specifically state that we will not make any calls for protest at Jantar Mantar till such a time that it is de-notified,” their undertakings said.
