‘Unemployed, Inspired By Bhagat Singh’: Common Thread That Links Parliament Intruders

A total of six people were allegedly involved in the Lok Sabha security breach on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack, police said on Wednesday.

Proceedings were underway in the Lower House when two men jumped inside the Lok Sabha chambers from the visitors’ gallery.

The accused have been identified as Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D, who were held inside the Lok Sabha chamber while Amol Shinde and Neelam Azad were arrested outside the Parliament building for sloganeering and spraying yellowish powder.

According to sources, all six were known to each other as they shared several commonalities and were staying in a house in Gurugram before the attack.

Police officials claimed that the group members had been in touch with each other for the last four years and had even carried out a recce of Parliament before Wednesday’s attack.

As far as the accused background is concerned, Manoranjan’s father Devraj identified his son after watching the TV coverage of the incident. He told CNN-News18 that his son was a student leader from Bengaluru and holds a BE computer degree.

Manoranjan said his father that he was going to Bengaluru adding that he wanted to do good for the society.

On the other hand, Neelam is a student from Haryana’s Hissar while Anmol is from Maharashtra.

Parliament Security Breach: How Are Accused Connected?

The police are investigating if the four accused got in touch with each other through social media. The police said they were also connected by their mutual liking for freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.

“All four seem to be part of a group called Bhagat Singh fan club. They were inspired by his ideology,” a police official in the know told CNN-News18.

One of six accused, Neelam while being taken away told the media, “We had no other way to protest. We had no other option. We are common citizens of the country.”

As per her family, Neelam was inspired by the ideology of BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh. Villagers told local media that Neelam would often distribute books related to Bhagat Singh to youngsters.

She had also participated in the wrestler’s protest and farmer agitation. Highly qualified, Neelam has BEd, MA, MPhil, and NET degrees but was unemployed.

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya said Neelam is an active Congress and I.N.D.I alliance supporter.

Preliminary probe, sources said, suggest that the group connected via social media. Joint interrogations by agencies revealed that they came up with the idea of that group itself.

Manoranjan and Sagar have been trying to obtain a Parliament visitor’s pass for the past three months as per details shared by BJP MP Pratap Simha’s office with the police.

“It is a matter of probing off whether they were instating a plan to breach parliament for the past three months or more. Digital devices can throw answers about how the varied groups from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kolkata, and Haryana connected and conspired,” an official said.

The fact that the group chose yellow as a colour to mark their protest has also led to the theory about taking inspiration from Bhagat Singh. Kesri was believed to be the favourite colour of the freedom fighter who had famously dropped a bomb in the assembly to make his point.

The sequence of events as narrated by eyewitness and BSP MP Shyaam Narayan Yadav suggested that Sagar and Manoranjan jumped off the visitor gallery and rushed towards the speaker’s chair.

The police are also investigating the role of Lalit Jha who was filming Neelam and Anmol as they started the ‘yellow protest’ at the Transport Bhawan entrance of parliament. Lalit is believed to be from Kolkata.

The sixth accomplice is yet to be identified.