Parliament security breach: Who is Lalit Jha, the alleged mastermind still on the run?

The Parliament on Wednesday witnessed a massive security breach when two intruders jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber and burst yellow smoke canisters, and two others burst red and yellow cans outside the new building. While four of the six accused in the security breach were charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on Thursday, one of them, Lalit Jha is still absconding. The Delhi Police is conducting raids to nab Jha, who is suspected to be the mastermind of the incident. Here’s all we know about the brain behind the Parliament breach. Who is Lalit Jha? A resident of Kolkata’s Barabazar area, Lalit Jha is a teacher by profession. He was previously a unit president of Samyabadi Subhas Sabha group, an NGO working on tribal education in West Bengal’s Purulia district, according to CNN-News18. He was active in various movements of the group. The absconding accused, who hails from Bihar, reportedly sent a video of the incident to the NGO’s founder Nilaksha Aich and asked her to publicise it. The founder does not appear to have been aware of Lalit’s planned smoke protest beforehand. Speaking to the news channel, Nilaksha revealed she met Lalit at an event in Kolkata when he working with the Indian Association Hall as a volunteer. She approached him to join her organisation.

Influenced by revolutionary Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Lalit and others were highly motivated to commit an act which could draw the country’s attention to them. Lalit’s last location was traced in the Rajasthan-Haryana border’s Neemrana, a fort-town 125 kilometres from the National Capital. The security agencies so far have not found their connections with any terror group, according to PTI which quoted an officer as saying. How did he plan the breach? According to the news agency, Lalit and other accused identified as Sagar Sharma, Manoranjan D (33), Neelam Devi, Anmol Shinde, and Vishal Sharma alias Vicky joined a Bhagat Singh fan page on Facebook after coming in touch with each other on social media. Lalit, Sagar and Manoranjan had met over a year ago in Mysore where they made a plan to barge into the Parliament. They later added Neelam – a resident of Haryana’s Jind who was previously detained during the wrestlers’ agitation in the National Capital in May – and Amol into the plan. Lalit took the lead and instructed Manoranjan to do a recee of all entry points of the Parliament during the Monsoon Session. [caption id=“attachment_13502092” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The four men arrested in connection with the security breach in Parliament on Wednesday have been charged under UAPA. File Photo.[/caption] “In July, Manoranjan came to Delhi and went inside the Parliament on a visitor pass issued on the name of an MP. There, he go to know the frisking of shoes does not happen,” the officer privy to the investigations. According to The Times of India report, Sagar came from Lucknow to visit the Parliament building but could not go inside. According to NDTV, initial investigation revealed the date of the security breach – 13 December – was fixed, since it was the 22nd anniversary of an attack on the old Parliament building by Pakistan-based terror group Laishkar-e-Taiba (LeT), in which nine people lost their lives. On Wednesday, Lalit came with the four others to the Parliament. When they got passes for only two of them, he decided to take the mobile phones of all four – Sagar, Manoranjan, Neelam and Amol. Police believe there may be further evidence on those devices, which Lalit might try to erase.

The colour canisters, which were sprayed inside and outside the complex, had been brought by Amol from Maharashtra’s Kalyan. Sagar and Manoranjan went inside, while Neelam and Amol stayed outside at the gate where they too burst the canisters, which emitted yellow and red smoke, the officer said. According to NDTV sources, Lalit filmed the smoke scare outside the Parliament complex on his cell phone and uploaded it on social media before fleeing the scene. He also shared it with Vicky – also part of the group soon after Neelam and Amol were detained from outside the Parliament. The police had earlier said that all five had gathered on 10 December and stayed at Vicky’s residence in Gurugram. Why did they breach the Lok Sabha? One of the reasons that can be gleaned from the accused’s statements as well as from their families is unemployment. Mysuru resident Manoranjan holds an engineering degree, is not employed at the moment. Neelam Devi, who holds MA, M ED and MPhil and has also cleared the National Eligibility Tests, was also reportedly frustrated with her state of unemployment. [caption id=“attachment_13501932” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Police personnel apprehend a man carrying a can emitting yellowish smoke while he was protesting outside the Parliament premises, during the Winter session, in New Delhi. PTI[/caption] Amol Shinde, who accompanied Neelam outside the Parliament, was depressed due to his failure to clear the Army recruitment, his mother revealed. However, it also appears joblessness alone wasn’t the reason that the six accused planned to attack the Parliament. According to PTI, police officials revealed that during interrogations, Amol said that the group was upset over issues like the farmers’ protest, Manipur crisis and hence carried out the act. “They had the same ideology and hence decided to give a message to the government. The security agencies are trying to ascertain if they were instructed by anyone or any organisation,” the officer told the news agency. What happened to the accused? Neelam, Manoranjan, Amol, and Vishal are in custody and have been questioned by the Delhi Police Special cell and other security agencies. Their accomplice Vicky, in whose house the accused stayed before reaching Parliament, has been detained from Haryana’s Gurugram. The Delhi Police has registered a case under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against those detained for the Parliament security breach. The officials said the case has been registered under IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 452 (trespass), 153 (wantonly giving provocation, with intent to cause riot), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and UAPA sections 16 and 18 at the Parliament Street police station. Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Lok Sabha secretariat suspended eight security personnel over  security lapses that led to the massive security breach in Parliament yesterday. Those suspended have been identified as Rampal, Arvind, Vir Das, Ganesh, Anil, Pradeep, Vimitt and Narendra.