NEW DELHI: A day after intruders made a mockery of Parliament’s security cover, fugitive Lalit Jha, said to be the mastermind of the whole drama, was arrested. He surrendered before Kartavya Path Police Station in New Delhi, sources said. He has been handed over to Special Cell of the Delhi Police that is investigating the matter.
Earlier in the day, a case was registered against the two intruders and their accomplices under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Offences punishable under UAPA are non-bailable. A local court placed them under seven-day police remand.
Heads also began to roll as eight personnel attached with Parliament security were suspended for dereliction of duty. The eight belong to difference security agencies and were on Central deputation. One of the two intruders, Manoranjan D, is said to have done a recce of the old Parliament building during its budget session. He found that footwear wasn’t being checked during screening of visitors, hence the ploy to smuggle smoke canisters in shoes. Special shoes were made in Lucknow to sneak in the canisters.
“So far, all the four accused claimed they were self-motivated and they planned and executed the operation on their own,” a police officer said. In the court, the prosecution accused the four of indulging in an act of terrorism and said they tried to incite fear. “It was a well planned attack on Parliament,” police said. “They need to be taken to Mumbai, Mysore and Lucknow for probe,” the court was told.
The fifth suspect, Vikram alias Vicky Sharma — and his wife Rakhi — were let off for now after questioning. Jha was outside Parliament on Wednesday and was holding the mobile phones of the two intruders — Manoranjan from Mysuru and Sagar Sharma from Lucknow — as also Neelam from Haryana’s Hisar and Amol Shinde of Maharashtra’s Latur, who staged a simultaneous protest outside Parliament.
“Jha appears to have received directions on Wednesday from another person to flee,” said sources privy to the probe. A West Bengal angle came up after Jha apparently sent a video of the protest outside Parliament to college student Nilaksha Aich, a resident of Halisahar in North 24-Parganas. Aich later posted it on his Instagram account. Jha’s Insta account, too, shows that the same footage.
“I was in college. After classes, I checked my WhatsApp messages and found it was sent by Jha whom I met in April this year at an NGO event. I saw him playing an active role at the event and we shared contact numbers,” said Aich. A Special Cell team of the Delhi Police is in Bengal after they learnt that Jha lived and studied in Kolkata and rented at room in Central Kolkata where he used to run coaching classes for children.
Plan to emulate Bhagat Singh
The accused wanted to enact Bhagat Singh’s action of throwing bombs inside the Central Assembly during British rule in India, sources said. Police said they had planned to throw pamphlets in Parliament after using the smoke bombs, adding that they had also bought Tricolours