Parliament security breach accused | Image: IANS

Twenty years apart on Dec 13, 2001 and 2023, the Indian Parliament was attacked in two separate incidents. The horrendous breach in the national building, in the heart of the national capital, has raised many questions about the security measures and lapses.

While the 2001 attack was planned and executed by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pak-based terrorist group, this time, the accused all hail from different corners of this very country.

While the authorities still fret over whether to call it an attack or a protest, six people: two from Haryana, one from Maharashtra, one from Uttar Pradesh, one from Karnataka, and one from Bihar, have shaken the nation, from the core.

Neelam Azad and Amol Shinde

One of the accused, 42-year-old Neelam Azad is from Haryana’s Jind. She was preparing for Haryana Civil Services and had been staying as a paying guest in Hisar.

She has been previously detained during the wrestlers’ agitation in Delhi in May, a source told the news agency.

Sources added that Azad had actively participated in farmers’ agitation and had been part of several protests in Haryana, too. She was one of the two individuals responsible for throwing the smoke flares outside the Parliament building.

Shinde, 25, hailed from Latur. The local police from Zari village trooped into his home, questioned his parents and raided his small dwelling.

The police thoroughly searched his home, the cupboards and other furniture, looking for documents, or other evidence that could give clues pertaining to the Parliament incident.

The visibly shocked parents informed  the police that their son Amol had left home two weeks ago saying he was going to New Delhi. However, he did not give any more information regarding his trip, they claimed.

Neelam Azad and Amol Shinde, raised slogans outside the Parliament, while a person identified as Vicky Sharma provided logistics to the accused at his Gurugram home.

“The duo did not have any mobile phones or identification when they were caught. They assert that their arrival at Parliament was an independent action and deny any affiliation with an organisation,” said an officer privy to the probe.

Vicky Sharma and Lalit Jha

As per sources, Vicky Sharma, also a native of Hisar and his wife, Rakhi, were detained from Sector-7, Housing Board Colony, Gurugram.

A resident of the same residential society as Sharma, Vijay Parmar told reporters the couple had been living in the locality for the last 15 years, and Sharma, a resident of Hisar, was a habitual alcoholic.

Reports indicate that the couple had left their house around 8 a.m. on Dec 13 to head towards the national capital.

Parmar added, “The couple along with their daughter used to reside in the locality. We noticed arguments taking place between the husband and wife a few times. We had no idea whether Vicky Sharma was working anywhere.”

“He even used to fight with neighbours. Our RWA (Resident Welfare Association) also received several complaints against the couple,” he said.

It is suspected that all the accused had given their mobile phones to Lalit Jha, who was also at Parliament and later fled the scene. 

The search for Jha is on.

Manoranjan Kumar and Sagar Sharma

Manoranjan, 34, is an engineering student from Bengaluru Institute of Technology (BIT) in Karnataka and then went to Delhi. In 2016, he also went to Cambodia.

As per the initial probe, it was also revealed that Manoranjan and Sagar Sharma had visitors’ passes for 45 minutes but they stayed in the visitors’ gallery for close to two hours from where they had entered the Lok Sabha Hall.

The preliminary investigation revealed that Manoranjan does not have a social media account and was estranged from his old friends for the past six years, said sources today.

Sources explained that Manoranjan created his own circle of friends in Bengaluru. Authorities are probing how Manoranjan got in touch with other accused from North India.

Police sources also suggest that Manoranjan might have social media accounts under different names.

His father said that his son should be hanged if he committed any ‘injustice’.

“If he has done any injustice to the society, he is not my son at all. If he is guilty, let him be hanged. We are not connected to any political party,” he said in Mysuru.

While, Sagar Sharma, 27, is an e-rickshaw driver and son of a carpenter, Shankarlal Sharma.

He is a resident of Alambagh in Lucknow. His sister told reporters that her brother had returned to Lucknow in August this year, after spending two years in Bengaluru where he stayed with a friend and was unemployed.

She did not know anything about the details of his job there. She said that he had studied up to class 12 and was now driving an e-rickshaw in Lucknow to earn money.

“He had told my mother two days ago that he was going to Delhi to participate in a demonstration. I do not know anything else,” she said.

Sharma and Manoranjan got their visitor’s pass issued on the reference of Karnataka’s Mysuru BJP MP, Pratap Simha.

The initial probe revealed that Manoranjan was issued a Parliament pass three times by the office of MP Pratap Simha.

The investigations also revealed that Manoranjan studied the security arrangements in detail during the visits and planned the attack. The office of Pratap Simha initially refused to issue the pass, but later, the accused applied pressure through a local personal assistant from Mysuru city to obtain the pass.

Divided by backgrounds, united by ideologies

The breach was a meticulously planned and coordinated operation executed by a group of six individuals who maintained communication through Instagram and other social media platforms like Facebook to devise the plan, Delhi Police sources said.

“The suspects formulated the plan several days prior and conducted reconnaissance before entering Parliament on Wednesday and had selected the date of December 13 to execute their act,” a source told the news agency.

“Unified by a shared ideology, they collectively aimed to convey a message to the government. They were in touch with each other through social media site Instagram for over a year,” the source added.

(With inputs from IANS)

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