In a significant development, the Counter Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Special Cell of Delhi Police has brought all six accused in the Parliament breach case together to cross-verify their individual accounts of the events leading to the security breach, officials reported on Thursday.
According to Delhi Police sources, the six individuals were held at five different units of the Special Cell, where they underwent rigorous questioning. On Wednesday, the accused were transferred to the CIU for joint interrogation. The seven-day custody of four of the accused—Manoranjan, Amol, Sagar, and Neelam—was set to expire on Thursday.
The shocking security breach occurred on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack, sending shockwaves across the country on December 13. Two individuals, Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D, breached security by jumping into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery, setting off smoke cans and raising slogans. Simultaneously, Neelam and Amol protested outside the Parliament, holding similar gas canisters. All four were promptly arrested and remanded in custody.
Sources involved in the ongoing probe revealed that the accused had created a WhatsApp group with 7-8 members to coordinate their plan. The group served as a platform for sharing the entire conspiracy to breach multiple layers of security and enter Parliament. The Special Cell has been in contact with all members of this social media group.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police are working to have the SIM card, reportedly used by one of the accused, reissued to gain access to relevant emails. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) will be approached for assistance in retrieving emails through the reissued SIM card.
To gather more leads in the case, the Special Cell has assembled six teams that will visit locations linked to the accused in Lucknow, Mysuru, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Haryana. The investigation has uncovered that two pairs of shoes were specially ordered in Lucknow, as the accused planned to hide smoke cans under their footwear, taking advantage of the fact that visitors’ shoes to the new Parliament were not routinely checked. The police are actively pursuing all angles to ensure a thorough investigation into the security breach incident.
