Parliament security breach: Cops say accused ‘hardened criminals’

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police on Thursday said that the Parliament security breach case accused were “hardcore criminals” who are constantly changing their statements. This was mentioned in the remand application submitted before a local court seeking extension of their police custody remand till January 5, which was granted.

Earlier in the day, the four accused – Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Amol Shinde and Neelam Azad – were produced before the Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Hardeep Kaur at the Patiala House Court. Umakant Kataria, the counsel appearing for the accused, told reporters that so far the police have recovered four burnt mobile phones besides other incriminating material.

Seeking extension of their remand, the police stated that they want to analyse the social media accounts of the accused for which they need 15 more days. It was revealed that the cops have already put the four through psychological analytical analysis which will be repeated during the next 15 days.

The police plan to confront the 4 accused who were arrested on the day of Parliament security breach on December 13 with the two other accused Lalit Jha and Mahesh, who had surrendered a day later. As the 4 mobile phones of the accused were found in a completely damaged state, the police will now reissue their SIM cards to find out the people they had been speaking to before commissioning the crime.

While in custody, the accused won’t be taken to any other place as the police have already made them visit 7 different locations. The accused Manoranjan had sought the court’s permission to speak to his parents which was readily granted. However, minutes later, he changed his mind and did not talk to them.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police has detained one more person for questioning — Sai Krishna, son of a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police from Karnataka’s Bagalkote. According to the sources, Krishna, is a techie and friend of one of the Parliament intruders Manoranjan D. They said that Krishna and Manoranjan were batchmates at a Bengaluru engineering college.

In a major security breach on December 13 two men —Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D —jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow smoke from canisters and shouted slogans before being overpowered by MPs. Around the same time, two other persons —Amol and Neelam — sprayed coloured smoke from canisters while shouting “tanashahi nahi chalegi” outside Parliament premises.