3 aides of Parliament breach key conspirator grilled

The Delhi Police Special Cell has questioned two more persons in connection with Parliament Security breach case, an official source said on Thursday.

The two persons -- one of them from Rajasthan -- were picked up by the Special Cell's Counter Intelligence unit late Thursday night, said the person.

They had helped Lalit Mohan Jha -- alleged to be the brain behind the plan -- hide after he went absconding, the source said.

Jha, who had been on run since Wednesday when four people breached security protocol inside and outside Parliament, walked inside a police station in the New Delhi district Thursday night and is now being interrogated by a counter intelligence team, the police source said.

One of the two persons under interrogation originally wanted to be part of the group that breached the Parliment security but 'could not come on that day', the source said.

Police said besides the eight people -- who have either been arrested or questioned in the incident till now -- there were a few more who were the part of online Bhagat Sigh Yuva Fan Club, which is now deleted.

Police are trying to access the list of members of the group, the source said.

Another friend of Jha was questioned for hours in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, a police 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, a teacher and an NGO member, said he has destroyed the four mobile phones he took from Sagar, Manoranjan, Neelam, and Amol -- the four who executed the plan inside and outside the Parliament -- but his claim his being verified, the person said.

The CI team has also interrogated Jha to ascertain if he was instructed or guided by any person or organisation in their breaching of Parliament security.

Police said that the four accused, who are in police custody for seven days, will be taken to their home towns as part of the investigation.

They will be taken to places where they held the meetings for the execution of the plan.

"For this, Special Cell has made separate teams, who will take these accused to various locations," said an official.

In a major security breach on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack, two persons -- Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D -- jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow gas from canisters and shouted slogans before being overpowered by the MPs.

Around the same time, two other -- Amol Shinde and Neelam Devi -- sprayed coloured gas from canisters while shouting 'tanashahi nahi chalegi' outside Parliament premises.