Parl security breach: CIU brings all 6 accused together to match sequence of events

NEW DELHI: The Counter Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Special Cell of Delhi Police brought all the six accused in the Parliament breach case to check if the sequence of events as claimed by each of them earlier matches, officials said on Thursday. According to Delhi Police, all 6 were kept at five different units of the Special Cell where they were subjected to sustained grilling.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the accused were handed over to the CIU (Counter Intelligence Unit) where they faced joint interrogation. Meanwhile, the seven-day custody of four of the accused -- Manoranjan, Amol, Sagar and Neelam -- is set to expire on Thursday. Coming on the 22nd anniversary of the terror attack on Parliament in 2001, the security breach sent shockwaves throughout the country on December 13.

Two youths -- Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D -- jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, setting off smoke cans and raising slogans before being overpowered by some members in the Upper House. In a separate incident that unfolded simultaneously, two more protestors -- Neelam (42) and Amol (25) -- protested outside the Parliament holding similar gas canisters.

All four were arrested from the scene and produced before a court, which remanded them in the custody of the Special Cell for seven days. According to sources privy to the ongoing probe into the incident, the security breach accused created a WhatsApp group with 7-8 members to flesh out their plan.

The accused shared the entire conspiracy to breach multi-levels of security and enter Parliament on this WhatsApp group. Sources said the Special Cell was in touch with all persons who were part of the social media group.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police said it was also trying to have the SIM card destroyed by the accused reissued so that they could access the email used by the former. Police said they will seek the help of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) to retrieve the email through the reissued SIM card.

Further, according to sources, to hunt for more leads in the case, the Special Cell has put together six teams that will visit locations linked to the accused in Lucknow, Mysuru, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Haryana.

The probe revealed further that two pairs of shoes were made on a special order, in Lucknow, as the accused learned that the shoes of visitors to the new Parliament are not checked and they could hide their smoke cans under their footwear, sources said.