Delhi Police told a city court that Lalit Jha is the 'mastermind' of the conspiracy and wanted to create anarchy in the country.
Published Dec 16, 2023 | 2:01 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 16, 2023 | 4:09 PM
Accused Neelam outside the Parliament. (Screengrab)
The five accused arrested in the 13 December Parliament security breach case have revealed that they explored self-immolation and distribution of pamphlets before settling on the plan to jump into the Lok Sabha’s chamber with smoke canisters, Delhi Police officers said on Saturday, 16 December.
The Delhi Police’s Special Cell, which is investigating the case, also plans to record the statement of BJP MP Pratap Simha, who had authorised the visitor passes for the two men who breached security to enter the House.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police told a city court on Friday that Lalit Jha is the “mastermind” of the entire conspiracy and he and his co-accused wanted to create anarchy in the country so that they could compel the government to meet their demands,
Sources said police are likely to seek the Parliament’s permission to recreate the 13 December incident that unfolded on the anniversary of the 2001 attack on it.
Two men — Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D — had jumped into the Lok Sabha’s chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow smoke from canisters and shouted slogans, before being overpowered by the MPs.
The pamphlets that the duo carried into the Lok Sabha had the picture of a fist against the backdrop of a tricolour, a slogan in Hindi and a slogan in English on the Manipur violence issue.
Around the same time, two others — Amol Shinde and Neelam Devi — sprayed coloured gas from canisters while shouting “tanashahi nahi chalegi” (Dictatorship will not work) outside Parliament premises.
Lalit Jha, the fifth accused, allegedly circulated videos of the protest outside the complex on social media.
“Before finalising this plan (to jump into the Lok Sabha chamber), they (accused) had explored certain ways that could be impactful in sending their message to the government,” a Delhi Police officer aware of the investigations told PTI.
They first explored immolating themselves by covering their bodies with fireproof gel but dropped the idea.
They also considered distributing pamphlets inside the Parliament but finally went ahead with the plan they executed on Wednesday, the official said.
Sources said the investigators have also not given a clean chit to Mahesh Kumwat and Kailash — who allegedly helped Jha escape.
The police will soon take Jha to Nagaur in Rajasthan where he stayed after fleeing on Wednesday.
He will be taken to the place where he claimed to have destroyed his and the others’ mobile phones, another official said.
All five arrested accused have been sent to seven days of police custody.
The police claimed in the Patiala House court that Jha, who hails from West Bengal, admitted that the accused met many times to hatch the conspiracy to breach Parliament security.
Besides, he was also required to be interrogated to ascertain whether the accused had association with any enemy country or terrorist organisation, police said.
“After the incident, he fled to Rajasthan where he stayed for two days and returned to Delhi last night,” the officer said.
The officer said the biggest challenge in the case is the fact that the police do not have the mobile phones of the accused that could help them trace the origin of the conspiracy and ascertain the involvement of more people.
The police are interrogating two more men — Kailash and Mahesh Kumawat — since morning. They have not been arrested.
Jha fled to Nagaur in Rajasthan after the incident. Kumawat and Kailash, who are cousins, arranged his stay there, sources said.
“We are planning to approach Parliament to seek permission for recreating the crime scene inside the House and outside the Parliament building. Jha, who was arrested on Thursday, revealed during the interrogation that he had thrown his phone near the Delhi-Jaipur border and destroyed the phones of the other accused,” said the officer.
The police suspect the involvement of foreign funding as the way the accused made the planning and visited Delhi multiple times to do the recce of the act.
The investigators are also looking for the person who helped them in designing the shoes with cavities to hide canisters, sources added.
On being asked, why he committed the act, Jha told police that they were upset over “unemployment”.
The police have collected CCTV footage from Parliament and the vicinity to know if the accused were accompanied by other persons before the act.
Dump data of mobile phones active at the time of the incident around Parliament is also being collected, sources said.
The police suspect that the accused had a plan B, in case their main plan failed.
During the hearing in the Patiala House court, police said, “Jha disclosed that they wanted to create anarchy in the country so that they can compel the government to meet their demands.
“He took the phones (of other accused) to hide them and to destroy evidence as part of the larger conspiracy. He disclosed that he threw his phone away on way from Jaipur to Delhi.”
The police said Jha’s custodial interrogation was required for “in depth investigation to unearth the larger conspiracy behind the attack, involvement of other persons and to find the actual motive behind the attack”.
Besides, he was also required to be interrogated to ascertain whether the accused had an association with any enemy country or terrorist organisation, police said.
“We need him to confront the accused with each other, to locate the mobile phones, to take him to locate the hotel where stayed for four days, and to know the financial transaction and funding behind the attack,” police told the court.
The FIR registered in the matter details the modus operandi used by the accused duo, Sharma and Manoranjan, to smuggle smoke cannisters into Parliament.
The two persons had smuggled them in cavities cut into the left sole of custom-made sports shoes supported by thick rubber layers, according to the FIR.
The police have filed terrorism charges under the stringent UAPA against the four people.
In what could help Delhi Police gauge the mindset of Sharma in the lead-up to the incident, their counterpart in Lucknow has forwarded them a diary, allegedly belonging to the accused.
The family members of Sharma (28) had handed over the diary to the local police which has been forwarded to investigators of Delhi Police probing the matter, police officers in Lucknow said.
Shambhu Jha, the elder brother of Lalit, said the entire family is still in a state of disbelief.
“We don’t know how he got involved in all this. He always stayed away from trouble. He was a calm and quiet kid since childhood and was very introverted. We knew he was involved with NGOs and, apart from being a private tutor, we are really shocked to see his images on television channels,” Shambhu said.
(With PTI inputs)
