Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were questioned by the Delhi Police Crime Branch for around four hours on Thursday in connection with two FIRs related to their protest at Jantar Mantar on October 13, PTI reported.

Source: PTI via SahilOnline

The two leaders reached the Crime Branch office in Rajouri Garden at around 11 a.m., where a team of officers questioned them, police sources told PTI. The FIRs — registered at Connaught Place and Parliament Street police stations — were transferred to the Crime Branch in October, and both leaders had been summoned earlier as well but had sought more time and did not appear.

Source: PTI via SahilOnline

The cases relate to October 13, when Das, Ranka and Ajinkya Shinde, along with 11 others, allegedly entered Jantar Mantar — a site that has been de-notified as a designated protest venue — staged a protest and unfurled the national flag, IANS reported. The CJP members were protesting against alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and raised slogans against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The trespassing and related charges are allegations in the FIRs; the case is under investigation.

Source: IANS via Tripura Times

A week in custody before Thursday's questioning

All the protesters were detained on October 13. Shinde was released on a bail bond, while Das and Ranka spent about a week in judicial custody. On October 21, they were released from Tihar Jail after submitting written undertakings before Special Executive Magistrate Ritu Raj, assuring that they would maintain peace and refrain from calling for protests at Jantar Mantar until the site is de-notified in accordance with law, and after furnishing personal bonds and surety bonds of Rs 50,000 each, IANS reported.

Source: IANS via Tripura Times

~4 hoursCrime Branch questioning on Thursday, November 5
2FIRs — Connaught Place and Parliament Street — transferred to the Crime Branch
October 13Date of the Jantar Mantar protest the cases arise from
Rs 50,000Personal and surety bond each on their October 21 release

The funding row breaks into the open

The questioning day also became the stage for the week's sharpest political exchange. At a press conference in Bengaluru earlier this week, Union Minister Jitendra Singh alleged that CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke had received funds from US-based donors and that Ranka had been paid by Pakistani politicians, claiming there was enough evidence that the outfit is funded by unauthorised sources, foreign-funded NGOs and organisations working against India's interests, ANI reported. Those are the minister's allegations; no evidence supporting them has been made public in the reports of the claim, and the CJP has rejected them.

Source: ANI

Responding after the questioning on Thursday, Ranka said: 'Ask Jitendra Singh — if there was foreign funding involved, why were they shaking hands with us? Why were they negotiating with us? Why were they sitting down and holding talks with us — sharing tea and breakfast?' He accused the government of falling back on the same rhetoric — funding from 'Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and America' — instead of answering questions on real issues, ANI reported.

Source: ANI

CJP spokesperson Saurav Das also rejected the foreign-funding allegations as baseless and demanded that the minister produce documentary evidence. The party posted on X that a Union minister can say anything and get away with it, ANI reported.

Source: ANI

What is solid

  • Das and Ranka appeared before the Crime Branch in Rajouri Garden on Thursday and were questioned for around four hours (PTI, police sources).
  • Two FIRs from the October 13 Jantar Mantar protest are with the Crime Branch; Das and Ranka were released on October 21 on Rs 50,000 bonds after about a week in judicial custody (IANS).
  • Union Minister Jitendra Singh publicly alleged foreign funding of CJP leaders earlier this week, and the CJP publicly rejected the allegation on Thursday (ANI).

What is only claimed

  • The foreign-funding claims themselves: the minister says evidence exists; no supporting evidence has been made public in the reports reviewed, and the CJP calls the claims baseless and demands documents.
  • The conduct alleged in the FIRs — trespass and violation of restrictions at Jantar Mantar on October 13 — which remains under investigation and has not been adjudicated.
What happens next

PTI reported that further details of the questioning were awaited. The Crime Branch investigation into the two FIRs continues, and the funding dispute now turns on a simple test both sides have set in public: the minister says evidence exists, and the CJP is demanding that it be produced.