Parliament Security Breach: How Mastermind Lalit Jha Evaded Cops, Destroyed Phones Before Surrendering

New Delhi: Lalit Mohan Jha, the alleged mastermind of Parliament security breach incident who surrendered last night, burned mobile phones of four accomplices to destroy evidence, Delhi Police sources told NDTV on Friday.

While the four accused — Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Neelam Verma, and Amol Shinde —  opened smoke cans inside and outside the Parliament and were apprehended from the spot, Jha, who live-streamed the event, managed to escape with their ID cards and mobile phones.

Jha’s arrest was also quite dramatic. After being on the run for 48 hours, he reached Delhi, accompanied by another man, on Thursday evening and gave himself up at Kartavya Path police station. He was then handed over to the Special Cell of the Delhi Police.

After the Lok Sabha breach, Jha went to Kuchaman, where he met his friends Mahesh and Kailash, who arranged a room for him to spend the night. “Jha fled from the spot after making a video of the incident. He reached Nagaur in Rajasthan by bus. There he met his two friends and spent the night in a hotel. When he realised that the police were searching for him, he came to Delhi by bus, after which he was arrested,” an official from the Delhi Police told news agency ANI. 

A teacher from Kolkata, Jha told police that he filmed the incident, uploaded the clip to Instagram, and sent it to a Kolkata-based NGO to ensure media coverage, before fleeing the scene. He destroyed the phones on Thursday morning and then left with Mahesh to surrender before police.

Meanwhile, police had managed to trace Kailash’s phone number and detained him on Thursday afternoon. “He told police Jha and Mahesh had left for Jaipur on a train and would board a bus for Delhi. Police started conducting raids… meanwhile, proper security arrangements were made near the Parliament. In the evening, police found the duo were near Dhaula Kuan… After some time, they reached Kartavya Path police station to surrender,” an officer was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.

Mahesh and Kailash have been detained for questioning.

Reports further said that Mahesh too was supposed to join the group, but couldn’t make it after his mother stopped him. All the accused in the case were connected with Jha and the others via a Facebook group called ‘Bhagat Singh Fan Page’.

Police are planning to book Mahesh and Kailash on charges of harbouring (the accused) and destroying evidence, the reports added.