Lok Sabha security breach: BE, MPhil, BA among accused, five held so far

Six people hailing from different cities got together at a flat in Gurugram, a major satellite city of Delhi, after hatching a plan to intrude into Parliament on the anniversary of the 13 December 2001 attack on Wednesday.

Two of them — Manoranjan D and Sagar Sharma — jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery and opened smoke canisters, triggering panic among the MPs, while their accomplices — Neelam and Amol Shinde — sprayed coloured gas from canisters and shouted slogans outside the Parliament building.

Lalit and Vishal Sharma are suspected to be their associates, police sources said. Vishal has been detained from Gurugram in Haryana while Lalit is on the run. All of them stayed in the rented house of Vishal Sharma and his wife Rakhi in Gurgaon's Sector 7.

Manoranjan D, from Mysuru in Karnataka, completed his Bachelor in Engineering in 2016 and was looking after the family firm. He also worked in some firms in Delhi and Bengaluru, his family said. He got the authorisation pass to enter the Lok Sabha from the office of BJP MP Pratap Simha and introduced Sagar Sharma, who comes from Uttar Pradesh, as a friend.

His father Devaraje Gowda, however, claimed that his son was honest and truthful and always desired to do good for society. "Hang my son if he has done wrong. That Parliament is ours. People like you all have built it. Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, and Nehru had toiled to build it. Whoever does it (attack) is condemnable. We will not accept it," Gowda told reporters in Mysuru.

"My son is a good boy. He is honest and truthful. His only desire is to do good for the society and sacrifice for the society," he added.

Sagar Sharma (28) left his house in Lucknow's Ramnagar a few days ago to attend a "protest" in Delhi. However, his family said they were unaware of his involvement in the Parliament security breach. "I heard my brother telling my mother that he was going to Delhi to attend a protest a few days ago," said Sharma's minor sister. "My brother drove an e-rickshaw and earlier used to work in Bengaluru."

According to the police, Sagar Sharma, along with his sister and parents, lived in a rented house in the Ramnagar area and his father Roshan Lal is a carpenter.

Twenty-five-year-old Shinde had left his village in Maharashtra's Latur district, saying he was going to Delhi to take part in an army recruitment drive, police said.

Shinde, along with Neelam of Haryana, shouted: "tanashahi nahi chalegi" (dictatorship will not be allowed), "Bharat Mata ki jai" and "jai Bheem, jai Bharat" outside Parliament.

After the incident in Delhi, a team of Latur police visited Shinde's house in Zari village. Shinde belongs to a Scheduled Caste community and is a graduate. He did odd jobs as a daily wager while preparing for police and army recruitment exams, the police said. His parents told the police that Shinde left home on 9 December saying he was going to Delhi for an army recruitment drive.

Family members of Neelam said she had earlier participated in several agitations including the farmers' movement. Neelam's mother Saraswati Devi told reporters at her house in Ghaso Khurd village in Jind that she came to know about the incident through the media.

Neelam (35) was staying in a PG accommodation in Hisar for the last five months where she was preparing for competitive examinations, her brother Ram Niwas said. "I got a call from my elder brother to switch on the TV immediately. He told me that Neelam was arrested in Delhi," Niwas told PTI.

According to Niwas, she actively participated in farmers' protests. He said his sister, who has also cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET), had visited the village two days ago, but did not talk about the Parliament protest. Neelam's family claimed she also holds Masters, MEd and MPhil degrees.

"Her certificate for the Haryana Teachers Eligibility Test had expired. I asked her to go to Hisar and get coaching for it," said Niwas, a livestock farmer.

A villager in Ghaso Khurd said Neelam had once gone with some villagers to Khatkar toll plaza during the farmers' protest against the now-repealed farm laws. Neelam has three sisters and two brothers. Her father Kohar Singh works as a halwai (confectioner) in Uchana Mandi, the villager said.

Police sources said the Parliament security breach was a well-planned and well-coordinated incident carried out by the six, all of whom were in contact with each other over Instagram and other social media platforms.

The accused devised the plan a few days ago and carried out a recce before coming to Parliament on Wednesday, they said. "Five of them stayed at Vishal's residence before coming to Parliament. As per the plan, all six wanted to go inside, but only two got passes," a source said.

An interrogation of Shinde revealed that the six accused had known each other for the past four years through social media. An official said Vishal Sharma earlier worked as a driver in an export company but of late, drove an autorickshaw. His neighbours claimed he was a drunkard and often quarrelled with his wife.

Sagar Sharma visited Vishal Sharma's house often and they were in contact for a long time. Vishal Sharma has a criminal background, official sources said. "Vishal and Neelam are also both natives of Hisar district," the official said.