Finance
Lalit Jha, the alleged mastermind behind the Parliament security breach case, surrendered to Delhi Police on Thursday night, authorities familiar with the investigation told IANS over the phone.
“Yes, we have Jha in our custody. We will share more details after we question him,” an officer said.
Jha surrendered before the Kartavya Path police station in New Delhi district.
“He has been handed over to the Special Cell for further investigation,” a source said.
Earlier on Thursday, a Delhi court sentenced the four primary defendants apprehended in connection with the case — Sagar Sharma, Manoranjan D., Neelam Azad, and Amol Shinde — to seven days in police detention.
Manoranjan is from Mysuru, Sagar is from Lucknow, Neelam is from Jind in Haryana, and Amol is from Latur in Maharashtra.
The case filed at the Parliament Street police station against them and Jha, a Bihar native, invokes Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 452 (trespassing), 153 (provocation with intent to cause a riot), 186 (obstructing public servants in the discharge of public functions), and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servants from duty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as well as Sections 16 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
According to sources, the five major accused spent the night before the event at the home of Vikram alias Vicky Sharma in Sector 7, Gurugram. On Wednesday, they had left the house at 8 a.m.
Vikram and his wife Rakhi were released on Thursday evening following hours of questioning in connection with the tragedy.
According to a source, Jha stole the phones of the four other suspects just before they carried out their plot and fled.
He also allegedly filmed Amol and Neelam’s demonstration outside the Parliament and shared it with Nilakkha Aich, a West Bengal-based NGO (Samovadi Subash).
According to sources, a team from the Delhi Police Special Cell would travel to West Bengal to question Aich, a second-year undergrad student at a prestigious college in the state.
According to sources close to the investigation, all five accused involved in the security breach were linked through the ‘Bhagat Singh Fan Club’ page on Facebook, and detectives believe they were instructed by someone both before and during the incident.
Source: IANS
