Top Indian ‘Cockroach’ leaders sent to jail over trespassing

NEW DELHI – Two top leaders of India’s youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) were sent to jail for five days on Oct 14 for alleged trespassing, the party said.Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das “have been sent to five days judicial custody”, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said in a social media post.Das and Ranka were detained on Oct 13 for entering Jantar Mantar, a day after Delhi Police announced that the Jantar Mantar street in the heart of the capital had been taken off the list of designated official protest sites.A video posted online by Dipke on Oct 13 showed the duo clambering over barricades at Jantar Mantar street, running into an empty space and waving the national flag – before police chased and detained them.Supporters of the online movement and opposition parties have taken to the streets in recent days, demanding the resignation of the head of India’s election commission, accusing it of manipulating voter rolls to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party.The Election Commission of India, which oversees the voting process in the world’s most populous nation, has denied any wrongdoing.The site has been sealed off for several days by yellow metal barricades and guarded by a heavy police presence.Dipke on Oct 14 defended Das and Ranka, saying they were being punished just for “unfurling tricolour at Jantar Mantar.“Show some guts, @narendramodi,” he said. AFP