PATNA: Bihar police on Friday swung into action and quizzed parents and other close relatives of Lalit Jha, the alleged mastermind behind the Parliament security breach case, at their native village in Darbhanga district. Lalit had surrendered before the Delhi police on Thursday, a day after the major security breach in the Lok Sabha.
Darbhanga senior superintendent of police (SSP) Avakash Kumar said, “A police team visited Lalit Jha's native village Rampur under Bahera police station in the district and collected information about the family. His parents and a brother were present in the house when the police visited them.”
The SSP said that Lalit Jha's father Devanand Jha alias Uday Jha is a small-time farmer. “It is being ascertained whether he was staying in the village or living with his son in Kolkata,” the SSP said, adding that no incriminating documents were found during the search of his house.
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The Darbhanga police set up a special team to gather information about Lalit Jha and his family following intelligence inputs. The special team is headed by sub-divisional police officer (in-charge) Manish Chandra Choudhary.
“Lalit's father had come to the village only 10 days back. We questioned him and sought some answers about his son, whose name has figured in the Parliament security breach case in New Delhi,” SDPO Choudhary told this reporter over the phone. Local residents were, however, skeptical about Lalit's antecedents.
“He was working with an NGO in the Purulia district of West Bengal. We have no other information about him,” said a local resident on condition of anonymity. Though terror links of the accused in the Parliament security breach case are yet to be established, Darbhanga district in north Bihar had earlier gained notoriety for being a favorite spot of terrorists across the country.
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Darbhanga had earlier been used as a conduit by the operatives of the Indian Mujahideen or Students Islamic Movement of India. Recently, it hogged the limelight for having connections with activists of the Popular Front of India.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) busted the 'Darbhanga module' of the Indian Mujahideen in 2011-12. The IM is alleged to have orchestrated some of the worst attacks in the country with the help of the 'Darbhanga module'.