After the four persons arrested from the Parliament on Wednesday following a massive security breach were sent to seven-day police custody on Thursday, insiders close to the investigation revealed that a series of elusive answers surfaced during their preliminary interrogation, which makes it seem that they had prepared their answers during grilling from beforehand.
Sources revealed that the accused meticulously prepared for the interrogation, suggesting a calculated approach to deflect the authorities.
During intense police grilling, all the four accused persons — Sagar Sharma, Manoranjan D., Neelam Azad and Amol Shinde — collectively shouldered responsibility for the security breach that rattled the sanctity of the Lok Sabha.
What seemed like a brazen act is now unfolding as a carefully-orchestrated ploy.
Details emerging from the interrogation room point towards a clandestine meeting organised by the absconding fifth accused, Lalit Jha, in Gurugram on Tuesday, a day before the incident.
“Lalit personally took away the mobile phones of the four accused just before executing their plan before making a hasty getaway,” said the sources.
As investigators dig deep into this high-stakes security breach, the unfolding narrative reveals a web of calculated moves and strategic planning, leaving the authorities perplexed.
“Carrying a pamphlet that declared Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a ‘missing person’ and that the person who finds him will be paid by money from the Swiss Bank points at meticulous planning. The police are also looking at the possible involvement of other persons,” said the sources.
While Manoranjan is from Mysuru, Sagar is a resident of Lucknow, Neelam is from Haryana’s Jind, while Amol hails from Maharashtra’s Latur.
The case registered against them and Jha, a native of Bihar, at the Parliament Street police station invokes Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 452 (trespassing), 153 (provocation with intent to cause a riot), 186 (obstructing public servants in the discharge of public functions), and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servants from duty) of the Indian Penal Code, along with Sections 16 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
A sixth person, Vikram a.k.a. Vicky Sharma, and his wife Rakhi, have been detained from Gurugram for allegedly providing logistics to the five accused persons.
Jha had filmed the protest by Amol and Neelam outside the Parliament and had reportedly shared it with a person named Nilakkha Aich, who is linked to an NGO (Samovadi Subash) in West Bengal.
As per sources, a team from the Special Cell is expected to go to West Bengal to question Aich, a second-year under-graduate student at a reputed college in the state.
Jha, a teacher by profession, is suspected to be either in Rajasthan or Haryana and efforts are on to track him at the earlies. multiple teams are on the lookout for him, who is also a teacher by profession.
All the five accused involved in the security breach were connected through the ‘Bhagat Singh Fan Club’ page on Facebook, sources privy to the probe adding that the investigators suspect that they were being directed by someone both before and during the act.
As per initial probe, Manoranjan and Sharma had visitors’ passes for 45 minutes but they stayed in the visitors’ gallery for close to two hours.