Lalit Jha, key accused in the recent Parliament security breach, being produced at the Patiala House Court, in New Delhi, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The Delhi Police probing the Parliament security beach case for more than 40 days on Tuesday said the six accused were 'self-funded and self-motivated' to do 'something big' for fame.
The accused also assumed that they would be let off even if they were arrested, thinking they were not committing any 'serious crime', they said.
According to a senior police officer, the mastermind is suspected to be Manoranjan D, who had created a 'Bhagat Singh Fan Club' page on the social networking site Facebook and used it to motivate 'like-minded' people to do 'something big' for fame.
"The accused were known to each other for the last four years but the plan to breach parliament was hatched a year ago," the officer said.
However, not everyone in the fan club was on board with the idea of doing anything illegal like breaching parliament's security. As a result, several other members had left in the days leading to the December 13 incident, police said.
"Since Manoranjan had access to the BJP MP in Mysore, he decided to barge into parliament and replicate freedom fighter Bhagat Singh's act which was done in the Delhi Assembly during British rule," another officer said.
"They did not have enough money to hold in-person meetings, therefore they decided to remain in touch through social media and Signals app," the official said.
"Because of the shortage of money, they stayed at Vicky Sharma's residence in Gurugram before committing the crime on December 13, 2023," he said.
Vicky Sharma was also a part of the fan club on Facebook. He was released after being questioned by police.
During investigations, Manoranjan and Sagar Sharma -- who jumped into the gallery of parliament -- told investigators that there were fewer security personnel at the new parliament building as compared to the old one.
Manoranjan also told police that he carried out a reconnaissance of the old building during the monsoon session.
In a major security breach on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack on December 13, Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during the Zero Hour, released yellow gas from canisters and shouted slogans before being overpowered by the MPs.
Around the same time, two other accused -- Amol Shinde and Neelam Azad -- also sprayed coloured gas from canisters while shouting 'tanashahi nahi chalegi' outside the Parliament premises.
The two others Lalit Jha and Mahesh Kumawat had surrendered before the Delhi Police, a day after the incident. They had allegedly destroyed the mobile phones of self and other four accused in Rajasthan.
All the six accused have been booked under the stringent UAPA and criminal conspiracy by the Delhi Police's anti-terror unit, Special Cell.
Last, month the Delhi Police had conducted their polygraph, narco-analysis and brain mapping tests in Gujarat, to ascertain the exact reason of their act.
The accused had that they they were upset over the issues of unemployment, the Manipur crisis and farmers' agitation.