Seeking custody of four persons, arrested for the security breach in Parliament on December 13, the Delhi Police told the Patiala House Court that the accused had carried pamphlets claiming Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be a “missing person” and “proclaimed offender”.
The Delhi Police have invoked anti-terror provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on the accused, identified as Manoranjan D., Sagar Sharma, Amol Shinde, and Neelam Devi. On December 14, the Patiala House Court granted the police seven days’ custody of all the accused.
Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Atul Srivastava informed Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur that the act was “a well-planned conspiracy” and attack on the Parliament of India. Also, the accused could be associated with “terrorist organisations”.
“Please see the pamphlet they were carrying. It has a picture of our Prime Minister who is shown as a ‘missing person’. They have declared a reward to be paid by a Swiss bank [for finding him]... they tried to show the PM as a ‘proclaimed offender’,” Mr. Srivastava said while seeking 15 days’ police remand of all the accused.
The police further submitted that the accused had created a social media group called ‘Bhagat Singh Fan Club’. They bought shoes from Lucknow and gas cannisters from Mumbai. The shoes had cavities to hide the canisters, the police said. Explaining why 15 days’ remand is necessary, the Delhi Police said the accused need to be taken to Mumbai and Lucknow for investigation.
The counsel for the accused argued that four or five days of custody would be sufficient to undertake the exercise. The APP responded that the police have to investigate the case, and not just visit the cities.
The court later granted police custody for a period of seven days.
In a major security breach in the Parliament on December 13, two persons, identified as Mr. Sharma and Mr. Manoranjan, jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber during Zero Hour from the visitors’ gallery, carrying canisters emitting yellow smoke. The smoke spread in the House leading to chaos and confusion.
Earlier, the court provided a counsel to the accused as all four were unrepresented. One of the accused submitted in the court that he hasn’t spoken to his family since the arrest.
