Man jumps into Indian parliament, sets off smoke can in major security breach. Did all four accused know each other?
‘I was expecting maybe they will blast something, shoot somewhere’
New Delhi: Delhi Police sources have revealed that all four people, including a woman, apprehended in connection with the security breach inside and outside Parliament, were acquainted with each other.
“They are being interrogated. So far they have denied that they know each other. Their social media accounts are being scanned to find the connection between them,” said another source.
While two of the four people apprehended are still being held within the Parliament premises, the remaining two are under detention at the Parliament Street Police Station.
The two men, who managed to enter the Lok Sabha Hall from the visitors’ gallery on Wednesday, have been identified as Manoranjan Kumar and Sagar Sharma, both residents of Mysore.
While Manoranjan is an Engineering student from Karnataka, Sharma’s visitor’s pass was issued on the reference of Karnataka’s Mysuru Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Pratap Simha.
Sources added that she had actively participated in farmers’ agitation and had been part of several protests in Haryana. She was one of the two individuals responsible for throwing the smoke flares outside the Parliament building.
Neelam, a resident of Jind district in Haryana, was preparing for Haryana Civil Services and had been staying as a paying guest in Hisar.
Meanwhile, as a part of the probe, a police team has reached Gurugram. As per sources, one Vicky Sharma, also a native of Hisar and his wife, Rakhi, have also been detained from Sector-7, Housing Board Colony, Gurugram while a search for one man named Lalit Jha is going on.
It is suspected that all the accused had given their mobile phones to Lalit, who was also at Parliament and later fled the scene.Neelam Azad and Amol Shinde were protesting with coloured flares outside Parliament and were detained by Delhi Police. Amol Shinde, a resident of Latur, Maharashtra and the police reached his house and grilled his family.
“The duo did not have any mobile phones or identification when they were caught. They assert that their arrival at Parliament was an independent action and deny any affiliation with an organisation,” said an officer privy to the probe.
--IANS
The other two, a man and a woman, who were protesting with coloured flares outside Parliament and were detained by Delhi Police, have been identified as Neelam, a resident of Hisar in Haryana and Amol Shinde, a resident of Latur, Maharashtra.
“The duo did not have any mobile phones or identification when they were caught. They assert that their arrival at Parliament was an independent action and deny any affiliation with an organisation,” said an officer privy to the probe.
The man jumped into the lawmakers’ area of parliament, shouted slogans and set off a smoke can on the 22nd anniversary of a deadly attack on the complex.
The parliament TV channel showed a young man wearing a black jacket and dark trousers jump from the visitors’ gallery into the lawmakers’ seating area in the lower house while a member was speaking, climbing over tables and entering the aisles.
He was surrounded by security staff and lawmakers and caught in an aisle as he set off a smoke can in his shoes, releasing dense white and yellow smoke, lawmakers said.
Four people, including the man, had been arrested, authorities said.
“It all happened in half a minute or one minute,” Rajendra Agarwal, a lawmaker from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party who was presiding over the house, told CNN News 18 TV channel, adding he saw a second person in the visitors’ gallery also trying to jump into the lawmakers’ area.
“There is no doubt it was a major security lapse.” Lawmakers said that the intruder shouted slogans they could not make out and there was a sound and some smoke.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not in parliament at the time.
LAWMAKERS SHAKEN
“I was expecting maybe they will blast something, shoot somewhere,” Sudip Bandyopadhyay, a Trinamool Congress party lawmaker, told the ANI news agency in which Reuters has a minority stake.
“This is a serious security lapse. How did they enter ...releasing smoke, sound,” he said.
The lower house stopped proceedings soon after the incident but resumed business about an hour later.
Speaker Om Birla told members that investigations had found that the smoke released by the man was “ordinary smoke, just to cause sensation”.
2001 attack
The incident took place in the new, high-security parliament building inaugurated by Modi in May.
In 2001, more than a dozen people, including five gunmen, were killed in an attack on the old building in the same complex.
The parliament complex is located in the heart of New Delhi’s power centre and security is high in and around it, especially when it is in session.
The complex has its own security personnel for protection inside the building, paramilitary personnel providing a second ring outside and Delhi Police forming a third, outer ring.
Visitors can secure a pass to enter parliament and watch proceedings on the recommendation of lawmakers. These passes were being stopped temporarily and a complete security review is being conducted, a parliament official said.