The alleged mastermind of the Parliament security breach, Lalit Jha, had applied to Kolkata police for a “no-objection certificate” for a rally on July 23 on behalf of Samyabadi Subhas Sabha, an NGO that works to spread the words and vision of Subhas Chandra Bose, police said.
The letter to Lalbazar bore Jha’s name as the “applicant” with details of his Kolkata address. The address of the organisation was that of Nilakhsha Aich’s residence on Nanna Hospital Road in Halisahar, North 24-Parganas, around 48km from the heart of Kolkata.
The police had granted him the permission.
Aich, a student of a Salt Lake college, was among those with whom Jha had shared a video of the Parliament breach on Wednesday.
The special cell of Delhi police, which is probing the Parliament security breach, has spoken to Aich.
Jha’s July 18 letter to the police said the rallyists would visit different parts of the city that have associations with Bose and would start from the Baghbazar Sarbojonin Durga Puja ground in north Kolkata. Bose was the president of the puja committee in 1938-39.
The rally culminated at Netaji Bhavan after covering Kumartuli, Scottish Church College and Mahajati Sadan, the police said. The rally also crossed the erstwhile Presidency College, which Bose joined in 1913.
The organisation’s letterhead said it was established in 2021, the year after Jha shifted from Girish Park in north Kolkata to a rented accommodation in Baguiati with his family.
“We acknowledge that we have read your ‘terms and conditions’ and undertake to abide by these conditions as applicable during our programme failing which police has the liberty to take penal action according to law,” the application read.
Sayan Pal, one of those whose name featured in the application, along with Aich’s, on Saturday said the rally’s purpose had been to spread awareness among people about Bose’s association with these places and institutions.
The rally was held around an hour later than the schedule and the participants went about visiting the places mentioned in the letter on cycles, Pal said.
“This organisation has over 500 members and a programme was held in Uttarpara in February when a WhatsApp group was also created. The whole idea is to serve the needy following the ideals of Bose,” Pal, who said he was a student, said.
“Jha was one among the 500-plus members of this group and I never interacted with him. Since I love cycling, I was asked to participate in the rally,” he said, adding that he knew Aich and referred to him as “Nil”.
The police said Jha had also shared his Parliament breach video with Sourav Chakraborty of Ranaghat, Nadia.
The video, lasting 1.33 minutes, was shared at 12.41pm on December 13 on Chakraborty’s WhatsApp account and had urged the receiver to spread the word. Jha wrote: “Protest Kiya hu circulate kro. Jai Hind.”
Chakraborty said he would often write on social issues and the deterioration of social values on his social media account and got to know Jha from there.
“Jha connected with me on social media and wanted to meet. We met once at Coffee House on College Street. I had invited him to attend a street meeting last Saturday and he said he would but did not turn up,” Chakraborty told reporters. “We had no talks about this security breach.... Even I want to know from Jha what the demands are.”