K'taka techie, Bhagat Singh fan: Who are two new detainees in Parliament breach case?

The Delhi Police have detained two other people for questioning in the Parliament security breach incident. This comes after six accused were arrested earlier for the 13 December security scare.

The Lok Sabha witnessed chaotic scenes last week after two men – Manoranjan D and Sagar Sharma – jumped from the visitor’s gallery, entering the House’s chamber and setting off coloured smoke. Two other intruders – Neelam and Amol Shinde – raised slogans outside Parliament and opened coloured smoke canisters. All of them were arrested by the Delhi Police and booked under the stringent anti-terror Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The alleged mastermind of the major breach, Lalit Jha, has also been arrested, while another accused Mahesh Kumawat is also in the police custody.

Who are the two new detainees in the Parliament breach case? Let’s take a closer look.

Two detained in security breach

The Delhi Police picked up a man from Uttar Pradesh’s Jalaun district on Wednesday (20 December), as per an Indian Express report. The 53-year-old, who was detained near his residence in the Orai area of the district, has been identified as Atul Kulshrestha, alias ‘Baccha’.

The suspect is a farmer who took odd jobs for a living, as per the English daily.

According to The New Indian Express (TNIE), he was in contact with Manoranjan D and Sagar Sharma through social media. He was active on a WhatsApp group created by youths arrested in the Parliament breach case, police sources told the newspaper.

As per the preliminary investigation, Kulshrestha does not have any past criminal records. He has no political affiliation but has been influenced by the ideology of revolutionary freedom fighter Shaheed Bhagat Singh, reported India Today.

He is also suspected to be a member of a “Bhagat Singh fan page” which the other accused had also joined, according to Indian Express.

Kulshrestha’s acquaintances told Times of India (TOI) that he was a high school dropout who came from a financially struggling family that relied on agriculture.

The Delhi Police has also detained an engineer from Karnataka in the case. The suspect, identified as Saikrishna Jagali, was picked up from his home in Bagalkote on Wednesday night, reported NDTV.

#WATCH | Police have detained a man from Karnataka’s Bagalkote, who was accused D. Manoranjan’s roommate during their engineering college days, in connection with the Parliament security breach case pic.twitter.com/ZSZj02C9vK

— ANI (@ANI) December 21, 2023

He is the son of retired Deputy Superintendent of Police of Bagalkote. Sources told NDTV that Saikrishna knew the accused Manoranjan and the two were batchmates at a Bengaluru engineering college. Manoranjan reportedly named his “friend” during questioning.

However, a TOI report says that Saikrishna’s name was discovered in Manoranjan’s diary.

According to News18, Saikrishna works for a multinational company in Bengaluru. His sister, Spanda, confirmed that a team of the Delhi Police came last night and took her brother with them.

“It is true that the Delhi Police came. My brother was interrogated. We have fully cooperated with the inquiry,” she was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Spanda claimed her brother did “nothing wrong”. “Both Manoranjan and Saikrishna Jagali were roommates. Now my brother works from home,” she further told the media.

ALSO READ: Parliament security breach accused booked under UAPA: What is this stringent law?

What about the other accused?

All six accused arrested in connection with the Parliament security breach were confronted together by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on Wednesday to corroborate the sequence of the incident.

According to PTI sources, they were taken to the Counter Intelligence (CI) office of the Special Cell where they confronted each other.

The seven days of police custody of Sharma, Manoranjan, Neelam, and Shinde will end on Thursday (21 December). The investigators are expected to seek extended custody of the four to further probe various angles in the case.

Meanwhile, the Centre has decided to hand over the ‘comprehensive’ security of the Parliament building complex to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) – one of the central armed police forces (CAPFs), according to a PTI report.

Sources told the news agency that the Union home ministry on Wednesday ordered a survey of the Parliament complex so that a “regular deployment of the CISF security and fire wing on a comprehensive pattern” could be done. The survey will be carried out later this week by experts from the government building security (GBS) unit of the CISF, its fire combat and response officers as well as officials from the current Parliament security team, reported PTI. 

A committee led by CRPF Director General Anish Dayal Singh is looking into the overall security issues of the building and will make suggestions to the home ministry accordingly.

With inputs from agencies