Delhi police on Saturday arrested Mahesh Kumawat, the sixth accused in the Parliament security breach case.
Sources said Kumawat, a friend of alleged mastermind Lalit Jha, was part of the
“conspiracy” and was also involved in the destruction of the mobile phones of
some of the accused. The Rajasthan resident has been remanded in seven days’ police custody.
The statement of BJP MP Pratap Simmha, who authorised the visitors’ passes for accused D. Manoranjan and Sagar Sharma to enter Parliament, is to be recorded.
The duo had jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors’ gallery on Wednesday and released yellow smoke from canisters.
Around the same time, co-accused Neelam Azad and Amol Shinde had released coloured smoke from canisters just outside Parliament while protesting against "dictatorship".
Jha, the fifth accused, allegedly shot videos of the protest by Azad and Shinde and posted them on social media. He is said to have later fled to Rajasthan, where he was given shelter by Kumawat. The two of them allegedly destroyed the phones of their four co-accused.
Sources said Manoranjan and Sharma had initially planned mock self-immolation inside Parliament, after covering their bodies with fireproof gel, but later dropped the idea.
The police are likely to seek Parliament's permission to recreate the breach, which coincided with the anniversary of the terrorist attack on Parliament in 2001.
