Delhi court extends custody of Parliament security breach ‘mastermind’ till Jan 5

New Delhi, Dec 22 (PTI) A Delhi court on Friday extended till January 5 the custodial interrogation of an accused in the Parliament security breach case.

Special Judge Hardeep Kaur extended the custody of Lalit Jha on an application moved by Delhi Police.

Police told the court that Jha was the mastermind of the entire incident and needed to be quizzed to unearth the entire conspiracy.

The court had on Thursday extended the custody of four other accused — Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Amol Dhanraj Shinde and Neelam Devi –? till January 5.

In a major security breach on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack, Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow smoke from canisters and shouted slogans before being overpowered by some of the MPs.

Around the same time, two other accused — Amol Shinde and Neelam Devi — released smoke from canisters while shouting “tanashahi nahi chalegi” outside the Parliament premises.