Five of the six accused arrested in the Parliament security breach case informed a Delhi trial court on Wednesday that they were being tortured, forced to sign on blank papers and given electric shock to confess to their involvement in the crime and their association with Opposition parties.
The submission was made in an application before additional sessions judge Hardeep Kaur of Patiala House court.
The sixth accused, Neelam Azad, along with the five others, were produced before the court on Wednesday following which their judicial custody was extended till March 1.
The five accused — Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Lalit Jha, Mahesh Kumawat and Amol Shinde — informed the court that they were forced to sign around 70 blank papers. “Accused persons were tortured/given electric shock to sign and confess (to) the commission of crime under the UAPA and their association with national political parties,” they told the court.
The court sought a reply from Delhi police’s special cell, which is probing the case, and fixed February 17 for hearing the application.
During an earlier hearing, Neelam had told the court that a woman officer had forcibly obtained her signature on 52 blank papers.
In December last year, Manoranjan and Sagar had jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery with canisters emitting yellow smoke and shouted slogans.
Around the same time, Amol and Neelam had thrown smoke canisters outside the Parliament complex.
Lalit, the alleged “mastermind”, had circulated videos of the protest outside the Parliament complex on social media and fled to Rajasthan where his stay was arranged by an accomplice, identified as Mahesh Kumawat.
Police sources had earlier told this newspaper that Manoranjan and Sagar had said during interrogation that they wanted to raise the issues of unemployment and the Manipur strife in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It is still unclear whether the police have recorded the statement of BJP parliamentarian Prathap Simha, who had authorised the visitor passes for the two intruders who were involved in the security breach.
