The Madras high court on Friday issued notices to the Union government and Saurav Das, co-convenor of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), in a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a probe into his nationality and the cancellation of his passport and Aadhaar card if he is found not to be an Indian citizen.
A bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan sought responses from the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) and Das on a petition filed by Chennai-based businessman R Ganesh Kumar.
The petitioner has also sought directions to block Das's X and Instagram accounts and restrain him from making derogatory statements against Supreme Court judges.
HT has reached out to Das to seek his response to the petition. The copy will be updated accordingly.
CJP co-convener Ashutosh Ranka called the petition “a moment of collective shame”.
“What's happening here is a moment of collective shame. Hounding someone just because you can't stand their work - to what extent are we going to tolerate all of this?” Ranka said in a post on X.
Petitioner's claims
In an affidavit filed through advocate B Jagannath, Kumar alleged that Das's actual name was Yogesh Sharma and that he had roots in Nepal. He accused the CJP leader of concealing his identity and origins to fraudulently obtain Indian identity documents, including an Aadhaar card, passport and voter ID.
{{/usCountry}}In an affidavit filed through advocate B Jagannath, Kumar alleged that Das's actual name was Yogesh Sharma and that he had roots in Nepal. He accused the CJP leader of concealing his identity and origins to fraudulently obtain Indian identity documents, including an Aadhaar card, passport and voter ID.
{{/usCountry}}The petitioner claimed that Das had no genuine occupation and had projected himself as a representative of the CJP while using social media to spread hatred among young people through false and unsubstantiated allegations.
"One does not know how many passports the said Saurav Das is in possession of. In the interest of the nation, a deeper probe... needs to be undertaken," the affidavit read.
Kumar also questioned Das's sources of funding, alleging that he was most likely receiving financial support from abroad. He argued that only an investigation could establish the source of such funds.
The petitioner further accused Das of using his social media accounts to create "chaos, anarchy, disenchantment, and hatred against the ruling establishment".
Referring to several posts in which Das had criticised the judiciary, Kumar alleged that his X and Instagram accounts were primarily being used to abuse the judiciary and promote radical communist ideology.
"The Twitter [now X] handle of the said person along with the Instagram feed is only about abuse of judiciary and has radical communist leaning glorifying the radical leftists," the affidavit read.
The petitioner also alleged that Das had called upon protesters at Jantar Mantar to "storm the Parliament" during a demonstration ostensibly organised to demand education reforms.
Kumar argued that the allegations warranted an investigation by the MHA into Das's nationality, identity, and alleged foreign funding, as well as action against his social media accounts.
The high court directed the government, CJP and others to file their respective replies within six weeks.