New Delhi: Delhi Police arrested the sixth accused and “mastermind” in the Parliament security breach case, Lalit Jha, on Thursday, news agency ANI reported.
Lalit’s arrest comes after a court sent four other accused – Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Amol Shinde and Neelam Devi – to police custody for seven days.
The accused were produced before Special Judge for NIA cases Hardeep Kaur by the Delhi police, which demanded their custodial interrogation for 15 days. However, the court-appointed defence counsel opposed the plea and argued that two or three days were sufficient for custodial probe, news agency PTI reported.
They have been charged under anti-terror law UAPA, apart from relevant sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Terming the matter as a “well planned attack”, Delhi Police told the court they have added Sections 16 and 18 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act related to terrorism and conspiracy for terrorism, respectively, against the accused, news agency PTI reported.
"Their right was limited to gallery. They jumped from the (visitors) gallery into the Well, which was trespass. They hid (smoke) canister in their shoes. Special shoes were made in Lucknow which needs to be probed. They need to be taken to Mumbai, Mysore and Lucknow for probe,” the Delhi Police lawyers told the court, reported PTI.
Notably, in a major security lapse on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack, two persons, identified as Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D, jumped down from the visitors' gallery in Lok Sabha and hurled smoke cannisters. They were overpowered by some MPs who handed them over to the security personnel.
Around the same time, two other accused, Amol Shinde and Neelam Devi, also sprayed coloured gas from cannisters while shouting slogans outside the Parliament premises.
Sagar, Manoranjan, Amol and Neelam were immediately taken into police custody, while their aide Vishal, in whose Gurugram house they stayed, was detained later.