NDTV, New Delhi
The four persons arrested from parliament after a massive security breach, have been sent to police custody for seven days for questioning. Sagar Sharma and D Manoranjan, who were caught inside the Lok Sabha, and Neelam Devi and Amol Shinde — arrested outside Parliament — have to be questioned in detail, the Delhi Police contended.
Five persons were arrested yesterday for the security breach in the afternoon in which two men got into the Lok Sabha and let off thick yellow smoke from canisters they smuggled in.
Sagar Sharma from Lucknow and D Manoranjan from Mysuru, had smuggled in smoke bombs which they let off inside parliament. The thick yellow smoke had caused panic for a while. The two were soon caught and overpowered by MPs and parliaments Watch and Ward staff.
The other two, unable to get visitors’ passes, were shouting slogans outside parliament, carrying the smoke bombs.
All four have been charged under tough anti-terror law UAPA and various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Their accomplice Vishal Sharma and his wife, in whose house in Gurugram they stayed before reaching Parliament,were detained. They have now been released. Lalit Jha, a key conspirator and the alleged mastermind, is on the run.
The police said Jha, unable to get a visitor’s pass, had stayed outside and filmed the ‘protest’ by Neelam and Amol Shinde. This he uploaded online before showing a clean pair of heels. Investigators said he was last seen in Rajasthan’s Neemrana.
In court today, the police contended that the whole operation resembled a terror attack and questioned the motive. “Was the purpose of the incident only to express one’s point or to carry out some major incident? It has to be investigated whether any terrorist organisation is involved in this entire issue,” they told the court.
The court was also told that the accused had probably smuggled in the smoke canisters in their shoes. The men had purchased two pairs of shoes from Lucknow and brought them here, the police said.
The canisters were purchased from Mumbai. The accused were also found carrying some pamphlets, which they apparently wanted to give to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the police said.
Presenting the accused before the special judge Hardeep Kaur, the police had sought 15 days’ custody, citing the need to take them to Mumbai and Lucknow for further investigations. The judge, however, granted a week’s time.
Earlier, on Wednesday two unidentified men stormed the lower house of India’s parliament, in a major security breach that fell on the anniversary of a deadly attack on the complex more than two decades ago.
Video broadcast live on Sansad TV, the official channel for the country’s parliament, showed a man jumping over tables and running toward the speaker’s chair as panicked lawmakers tried to subdue him.
Another man standing in the visitor’s gallery was seen spraying yellow smoke inside the building.
The parliament’s session was briefly adjourned as lawmakers made their way outside.
Two more people outside the building were seen chanting slogans as police gathered around them.