Parliament security breach 'mastermind' Lalit Jha sent to 7-day police remand

Lalit Jha, the ‘mastermind’ in the 13 December, 2023, Parliament security breach, has been sent to seven-day police custody of the Delhi Police Special Cell by the Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Friday. The Delhi Police had sought custody for 15 days.

#WATCH | Parliament security breach accused Lalit Jha being brought out of Patiala House Court, in Delhi.

He has been sent to a 7-day Police remand. pic.twitter.com/aLGqzuuGoM

— ANI (@ANI) December 15, 2023

Talking to News18, advocate Umakant Kataria said, “Some meetings had taken place at Jha’s house. All of them also stayed at a hotel and that’s where the conspiracy was hatched.” According to a report by India Today, the Lok Sabha intruders, who posed as a visitor and had valid pass to enter the premises, had a backup plan if their original plan went awry and if they failed to reach the Parliament. This revelation was made by Jha during police interrogation. He said if, for some reason, Neela and Amol were unable to reach near the Parliament as per the original plan, Mahesh and Kailash would approach the building from another direction, and they would then have ignited colour bombs and raise slogans in front of the media cameras. As Mahesh and Kailash could not reach Vishal Sharma alias Vicky’s house in Gurugram, where the group was staying, Amol and Neelam were directed to complete the task outside the Parliament at any cost. On 13 December Parliament attack anniversary earlier this week security breach was reported in Lok Sabha two individuals – Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D – jumped into the House chamber from the public gallery and released yellow gas smoke canisters. They even shouted slogans before being overpowered by some MPs. Also, there were two others – Neelam Devi and Amol Shinde – who were arrested when they were protesting outside the Parliament, spraying coloured gas from canisters while shouting. All the four people were arrested the same day and were charged with terrorism under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for the major security breach. The report said after the success, a plan was made according to which Mahesh was given the responsibility to help Jha hide in Rajasthan. Mahesh allegedly had booked a room for Jha at a guest house using his own identity card, while he, Jha and Kailash were constantly monitoring updates on breach on TV, the report quoted sources in police as saying. With inputs from agencies