One Year On, Trial Yet To Begin

The accused had launched a coordinated gas attack by opening colourful canisters in the house. (File)

New Delhi:

A year after a security breach in Parliament, sources in the Delhi Police said they have submitted clinching evidence and made a watertight case against the six accused.

The security breach happened on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack on December 13, 2023 and the accused have been booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

The trial in the case is yet to start as the Delhi Police’s probe is underway. But officials claim that they have sufficient evidence against the perpetrators, who were led by Karnataka resident Manoranjan D.

The accused had launched a coordinated gas attack by opening colourful canisters in both inside and outside the Parliament house during the Zero Hour.

Manoranjan, along with Sagar Sharma, jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery and opened the canisters that released a yellow gas in the House.

Two others — Amol Shinde and Neelam Azad — sprayed coloured gases from canisters outside the Parliament premises around the same time. They also shouted “tanashahi nahi chalegi (dictatorship will not be allowed)”.

Manoranjan, Sharma, Shinde and Azad were arrested on the same day as they were caught soon after their acts. Lalit Jha and Mahesh Kumawat were arrested on December 15 and December 16 respectively.

According to an official source, one main and two supplementary chargesheets have been filed against the six accused, who are lodged in the Tihar jail.

They have been booked under sections 16 and 18 of the UAPA and provisions of the Indian Penal Code by the Delhi Police’s anti-terror unit, Special Cell.

“The forensic evidence submitted against the accused is sufficient to prove them guilty but the probe is underway as some reports are still awaited from the FSL (Forensic Sciences Laboratory),” an official source said.

The accused wanted to discredit India’s democracy, gain instant global fame, usurp power and achieve “richness and glory” by targeting the “very symbol of democracy”, according to the main chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police in court in June.

The police probe has so far ruled out the involvement of any group or organisation in the security breach.

The accused first met on social media and planned their move for nearly two years, before executing it last year. According to the chargesheet, their first in-person meeting was held in February 2022 at Mysuru, a source said.

Citing the chargesheet, another source said that driven by his “ultra Maoist-inspired thinking”, Manoranjan decided to target the Parliament building to gain immediate and lasting attention.

The source added that the accused wanted to send out a wider message that the “Indian democracy is ineffective and needs to be replaced”.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police remains on alert during the ongoing winter session of Parliament. Coordinating with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel deployed in and around the Parliament complex, the Delhi Police has set up an extra layer of barricades around Parliament.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)