Delhi Police on Sunday recovered cellphones destroyed by Lalit Mohan Jha, the alleged mastermind in the Parliament security breach case, from Kuchaman City in Rajasthan, reports The Indian Express. Jha had gone to the spot and allegedly set fire to around 4-5 cell phones.
Jha, 32, who is the fifth accused in the case, allegedly circulated videos of the protest outside the complex on social media. He had allegedly destroyed all technical evidence, including the phones, on Thursday morning before he was nabbed.
On Wednesday (December 13), in a major security breach in the new Parliament, two men identified as Manoranjan D and Sagar Sharma – had jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors’ gallery and one of them sprayed smoke from a canister.
Meanwhile, two thers – Neelam Azad and Amol Shinde – opened smoke canisters outside the Parliament, and shouted slogans of “stop dictatorship”.
All five arrested accused have been sent to seven days’ police custody. The Delhi Police Special Cell is investigating the case.
Accused wanted anarchy: Delhi Police tells court
On Saturday, the Delhi Police told the Patiala House court that the six persons who conspired to breach the Parfliament’s security on December 13, the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack, wanted to create anarchy in the country to get their “illegal demands met”, reported Bar and Bench.
Public Prosecutor Akhand Pratap Singh appeared for Delhi Police and told Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Hardeep Kaur of Patiala House Courts that the ‘conspiracy’ was going on for nearly two years and ‘conspirators’ held meetings in Delhi, Gurgaon and Mysore.
“They wanted to create a situation of anarchy to get their illegal demands met. Look at the time they chose – when Parliament session was going on,” Singh said.
Accused explored idea of self-immolation: Delhi Police
Delhi police officials said on Saturday that the five accused, who are now in police custody, have allegedly revealed they explored the idea of self-immolation after applying fire-resistent gel on their body to create more dramatic scenes without hurting themselves and get media attention, reports PTI.
However, the plan was dropped, and instead they settled on their plan to jump into the Lower House chamber and use smoke canisters.
“Before finalising this plan (to jump into the Lok Sabha chamber), they (accused) had explored certain ways that could be impactful in sending their message to the government,” a Delhi Police official aware of the investigations told PTI.
“They wanted to explore immolating themselves by covering their bodies with fireproof gel so that they don’t get hurt. By doing this drama, they wanted to get media attention. Later, they dropped this idea. However, the reason to drop this idea is not known yet.”
They also considered distributing pamphlets inside the Parliament but finally went ahead with the plan they executed on Wednesday,” an official said.