CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre and Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) co-convenor Saurav Das on a petition seeking a probe into his citizenship.
A bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan heard the public interest litigation, filed by Chennai businessman R. Ganesh Kumar. It asks the court to direct the Union Home Ministry to verify Das’s nationality and cancel his passport and Aadhaar card if he is found not to be an Indian citizen.
Kumar also wants Das’s X and Instagram accounts blocked and Das barred from making derogatory remarks about Supreme Court judges. The court has made no finding on any of these requests.
What the petitioner alleges
In an affidavit filed through counsel B. Jagannath, Kumar claimed Das’s real name is Yogesh Sharma and that he has roots in Nepal. He alleged Das concealed this to obtain an Aadhaar card, a passport and a voter ID.
Kumar described Das as unemployed and said he calls himself a CJP representative while spreading unsubstantiated allegations among young people. He said it was unclear how many passports Das holds and called for a deeper investigation.
The petitioner also cited Das’s social media posts criticizing the judiciary. He claimed, without presenting evidence in the affidavit, that Das must be receiving foreign funding. He said Das runs his accounts to cause “chaos,” and described him as a communist who had called for a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to storm Parliament over education reform.
