Delhi Police registered a non-cognisable report on Sunday against unidentified persons for allegedly threatening a magistrate amid bail proceedings of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, officials said.
The development comes amid allegations by the CJP that the release of the two leaders was being "delayed" and that four sureties related to the bail had been rejected on "vague grounds".
A non-cognisable report is generally registered for offences in which police cannot arrest an accused without a warrant or investigate without the permission of a magistrate, as prescribed by law.
Further details about the alleged threats and the persons involved were not immediately available.
Referring to the alleged delay in the bail hearing, CJP legal head Ratna Singh in a post on X said she had been at the police station since 11 am for the hearing, which was scheduled for noon, but the Assistant Commissioner of Police, who also functions as the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM), had not arrived by 4.42 pm.
This was "absolute misuse of power" by the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) court, she said in another post.
Das and Ranka were sent to five days of judicial custody on October 14 after they entered Jantar Mantar, which had been denotified as a designated protest site, by scaling its locked gates.
Speaking to reporters, Singh said the magistrate later had told them that someone was threatening him.
"The public prosecutor didn't come for four days. He came on the fifth day. (He) didn't want to talk about the case. He didn't want to release anyone," she said.
"The SEM mentioned that someone has sent him a threatening message...Our lawyers said that if someone has threatened you, you should take action against them. Put their number in the order. Tell us their name.
"Our lawyers countered them. They said that you should take action against the person who has sent you the threatening message. Why are you not listening to this case?" Singh said, referring to the bail hearing of the CJP leaders.
There was no response from the police on the allegations.
On Saturday, the CJP had said it had consulted senior advocate Kapil Sibal and warned of legal action if the two leaders were not released by Sunday, alleging deliberate delays that had kept them in custody.
The outfit has been protesting against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that the exercise threatens voters' rights.
Disclaimer: Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by The Daily Jagran staff and has been published through a syndicated feed by PTI.