Police grill friend of key accused in Parliament security breach in Bengal

Police have questioned a friend of Lalit Mohan Jha, a key accused in the Parliament security breach incident, for hours in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, an officer said. A team from Barrackpore Police Commissionerate visited Nilakahya Aich’s Halisahar residence on Thursday and asked him about his acquaintance with Jha during the days when the accused was working for an NGO, he said. “We talked with the person for hours to know about his friendship with Jha. We got information about him from Delhi Police,” the officer told PTI. Aich, who is an undergraduate student at a college in West Bengal, has received a video of the security breach at Parliament from Jha soon after the incident, police said. “We have checked Aich’s mobile phone and noted down certain information, which may be vital in our investigation,” the police officer said. Jha, the key accused in the Parliament security breach incident, was arrested on Thursday evening, Delhi Police sources said. Jha, accompanied by a man, reached the Kartavya Path Police station in the national capital where he was handed over to the Special Cell. In a major security breach on the anniversary of the deadly 2001 Parliament terror attack, two persons on Wednesday jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors’ gallery, shouted slogans and released yellow smoke from canisters that triggered panic and chaos in the House.