New Delhi: Delhi Police has transferred all 57 FIRs registered in connection with the recent Jantar Mantar 2.0 protest to its crime branch for investigation.
After Jantar Mantar was denotified as a protest site, CJP co-convenors Das and Ranka, along with 14 other members of the outfit, attempted to stage a demonstration there on Oct 13.
Police sources said the cases were registered at various police stations in the New Delhi district. The workload of the district police, which regularly handles protests and demonstrations in the area, and the sensitive nature of some of the cases were among the reasons for transferring the probe, they said. A senior New Delhi district police officer said the transfer would bring all the cases related to the protest under a single investigating unit. Most of the cases were registered under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relating to disobedience of orders issued by public servants, violation of prohibitory orders, trespass, assault on govt employees and obstructing police personnel from discharging their duties, according to police.
In one of the cases, police invoked the charge of criminal conspiracy. They allegedly scaled barricades, entered the site and waved the Indian Tricolour before being surrounded and detained by police. The following day, Das and Ranka were arrested on charges of alleged trespassing and subsequently sent to judicial custody. Ajinkya Shinde, who briefly emerged as the face of the movement in the absence of Abhijeet Dipke, was also arrested and later bound down by police.
Police had earlier transferred two FIRs linked to the demonstration to the crime branch.