Parliament intruders wanted to ‘create anarchy’, police to probe foreign link

Lalit Jha, the alleged mastermind behind the Parliament security breach incident and his co-accused wanted to create anarchy.

In the country to compel the government to meet their demands, the Delhi Police stated in their remand plea to the court. The police are probing “actual motive behind the attack” and his “association with any other enemy country as well as terrorist organisations”, they informed the court.

The Patiala House court has sent Jha, who surrendered and was arrested on Thursday night, into seven-day police custody, emphasising the need for an in-depth and detailed investigation to unearth the larger conspiracy behind this “well-planned attack” on the Parliament of India. The incident occurred on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack.

Delhi Police told the Patiala House court during the custody hearing that Lalit Jha, the key conspirator behind the Parliament security breach, disclosed that the group wanted to “create anarchy” in the country so that they could compel the government to meet their demands.

The Delhi Police are likely to seek Parliament’s permission to recreate the December 13 incident, during which two individuals jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors’ gallery.

“We are planning to approach Parliament to seek permission for recreating the crime scene inside the House and outside the Parliament building. Lalit Jha, who was arrested on Thursday, revealed during the interrogation that he had thrown his phone near the Delhi-Jaipur border and destroyed the phones of the other accused,” an officer told news agency PTI.

The investigation team suspects the involvement of foreign funding behind the act, considering the detailed plan and multiple visits to Delhi to conduct reconnaissance. Lalit Jha has admitted that the accused met many times to hatch the conspiracy to breach Parliament security. Police also told court that he is required to be interrogated to ascertain whether the accused had association with any enemy country or terrorist organisation.

After the incident, Jha took the phones of all the accused in order to destroy evidence against them and to hide the larger conspiracy behind this attack. He disclosed that he threw his phone on the way from Jaipur to Delhi. The police will be taking Jha to Rajasthan to trace the places where he threw his phone and burnt the phones of others.

Congress is pressing for a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Parliament, warning that the House won’t function without a briefing on the security breach. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh stated that the INDIA bloc parties will meet again on Monday to decide whether to continue asking questions about the incident.