The five people came to Delhi from their respective places of residence three days ago & lived in Gurugram with a friend, who may not have known of their plans
Four men and a woman who were responsible for the gravest security breach in Parliament in two decades on Wednesday first met on a Facebook group dedicated to fans of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, and three of them conducted a recce of the Lok Sabha premises during the Monsoon session, Delhi Police investigators said on Wednesday.
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The five people came to Delhi from their respective places of residence three days ago and lived in Gurugram with a friend, who may not have known of their plans, added the investigators.
Police detainedSagar Sharma and D Manoranjan, who leapt into the Lower House from the visitor’s gallery on Wednesday afternoon and released coloured gas, and Neelam Singh and Amol Shinde, who protested outside the building with similar gas cannisters and shouted slogans. Investigators later picked up a fifth alleged accomplice identified as Lalit Jha from Gurugram.
A senior officer of the Delhi Police who is interrogating the suspects in the Parliament Street Police station, said that all the five suspects were allegedly part of a Facebook group named Bhagat Singh Fans’ Club and knew each other for the last one year.
“Three people, including Manoranjan and Shinde, had visited Parliament during the Monsoon session as a part of the recce for this protest. They were aware of the height of the visitors’ gallery from the parliamentarians’ seats and knew that they could jump below without hurting themselves,” said the officer, requesting anonymity.
To be sure, the Monsoon session was conducted in the old Parliament — and the new building was only inaugurated during a special session in September.
Though they were signed in by Pratap Simha, the Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Mysuru on Wednesday — police said Manoranjan’s family knew Simha — the name of the parliamentarian who had signed their passes in August was not yet clear. On August 10, the penultimate day of the Monsoon session, Shinde posted a photograph of himself on Kartavya Path on social media, seemingly corroborating that he was in the city at the time.
After the recce, the suspects realised that they could pass through the three layers of security checks that a visitor to Parliament is subjected to, and started hatching their plan. Though investigators were not certain why they chose this particular date to carry out the breach, the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack offered potent reason and symbolism.
The detailed planning spanning months, the inability of intelligence agencies to identify or thwart the conspiracy, and the brazen incursion on the anniversary of the 2001 attack sparked troubling questions about laxity in security protocols and gaps in checks inside the heart of Indian democracy.
The officer quoted above further said that all the five suspects came to Delhi by different trains from their bases – Sharma is from Lucknow, Manoranjan from Mysuru, Singh from Jind, and Shinde from Latur — three days ago. Where Jha lives was not clear at the time of filing this report.
“They met near a place near Connaught Place, from where they went to Gurugram and stayed with one Vicky Sharma there,” the officer said, adding that it was not clear yet whether Vicky Sharma was aware of their plans.
The four accused said during their interrogation that they were not happy with the central government on various issues, and wanted to give a loud and clear message of dissent, said the officer quoted above. “Another suspect, Lalit Jha, was detained from a place in Gurugram. His role can only be ascertained after his custodial interrogation,” added the officer.
“So far, we have identified over 40 people from that Facebook group, who were allegedly in regular touch with these accused,” he said.
A second Delhi Police officer said Vicky or Vikram Sharma, 44, lived with his wife and 15-year-old daughter. The daughter told police that Sharma and Manoranjan had visited their house previously as well, said the second officer. According to a third police officer, Jha held the mobile phones of the four suspects. “He had all the mobile phones with him because phones are not allowed inside Parliament; we are yet to verify why Singh and Shinde [who were outside the House] did not keep their phones with them,” he said.
Another officer said that the security of Parliament is managed by a unit that is not a part of the Delhi Police. “The Delhi Police handles the security of the periphery of the Parliament building and the Parliament’s area falls under the jurisdiction of the Delhi Police, the reason why the case is being investigated by the Delhi Police and they are registering an FIR. But the entire frisking and checking is the responsibility of Parliament security,” said the officer, asking not to be named.
He also said that for the past 10-odd days, the Delhi Police has been receiving intelligence about some protests – graffiti to be precise – outside Parliament around this date. “Senior officers had instructed better checking of people carrying bags containing paint and brushes. But much of the suspicion was on issues related to Pannun. No one expected any protests to spill into Parliament premises,” he added, referring to Khalistan supporter Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.