New Delhi: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka walked out of Tihar Wednesday after a Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) ordered their release after their 7th day in judicial custody.
While the Delhi Police had sought a further three-day extension, the SEM ordered the duo’s release after they signed an undertaking that they would not call for any protest at Jantar Mantar until it remains a denotified protest site.
They also undertook not to commit any breach of peace and affirmed “full faith in the judiciary and all its instruments including the SEM Court”.
Das and Ranka were detained after they entered Jantar Mantar, tricolour in hand, after it had been de-notified as a protest site. The duo will be released from Tihar jail, lawyers involved confirmed.
According to Section 187(6) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), an Executive Magistrate is strictly restricted from authorising the detention of an accused for “more than seven days in the aggregate”. The duo had completed the same Wednesday.
Welcome home @SauravDassss @AshutoshRanka ❤️ pic.twitter.com/oscYIWxB6l
— Cockroach Janta Party – CJP (@Cockroachisback) October 21, 2026
#WATCH | Delhi: CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka come out of Tihar Jail after the SEM Court ordered their release. pic.twitter.com/8EXwD6t7Al
— ANI (@ANI) October 21, 2026
“The personal/surety/peace bond has been accepted,” the letter to the Tihar Jail Superintendent ordering their release read.
SEM Ritu Raj had on Monday extended their five-day judicial custody by two more days. After the hearing at the Mandir Marg Police Station at 4 pm, the SEM had reserved the order.
Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court had heard Das and Ranka’s plea challenging extension of their judicial custody. Justice Subramonium Prasad had suggested the duo wait for the SEM hearing and move the high court if they were unsatisfied with the former’s decision.
Das and Ranka, represented by advocate Abhik Chimni among others, had then withdrawn their plea.
This is an updated version of the report.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)