The mastermind behind the Parliament smoke scare may well be Lalit Jha – on the run and last seen in Neemrana, a fort-town 125 km from the national capital – Delhi Police sources have told NDTV. 

Sources have claimed a larger conspiracy behind the Wednesday afternoon attack, in which two men popped yellow smoke canisters inside the Lok Sabha, and a man and a woman opened red and yellow canisters, while shouting slogans against dictatorship, outside Parliament.

Initial inquiries suggest the date of the security breach – December 13 – was fixed on instructions from Lalit Jha. The date was significant because it was the 22nd anniversary of an attack on the old Parliament building by Pakistan-based terror groups, in which nine died.

Jha, a resident of Kolkata and a teacher by profession, was influenced by revolutionery Shaheed Bhagat Singh and wanted to do something that drew the country’s attention to him, sources said.

There is no connection, so far, with any known terror group, sources also said.

Police sources said Jha had summoned his accomplices – identified as Sagar Sharma and D Manoranjan (inside the Lok Sabha) and Neelam Devi and Amol Shinde (outside Parliament), as well as Vicky Sharma, at whose house they met – to Gurugram yesterday morning, before the incident.

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All six reportedly wanted to be inside Parliament to pop the smoke canisters together but only Sharma and Manoranjan managed to secure visitors’ passes; these were issued by request from BJP MP Prathap Simha’s office. Mr Simha, the lawmaker from Mysuru, has denied any connection, apart from asking the Lok Sabha Secretariat, which is supposed to screen visitors, to issue passes. 

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Unable to be on the inside, sources said Jha, who is from Bihar, filmed the smoke scare outside Parliament on his mobile phone and uploaded it to social media before fleeing the scene. He also shared the clip with the founder of a Kolkata-based NGO to ensure media coverage, sources told NDTV. The founder does not seem to have had prior knowledge of Jha’s smoke protest plan. 

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Jha was, however, listed as the General Secretary of this organisation, which is being investigated, police have said.  He also grabbed the mobile phones of his four accompliaces before he fled. Police believe there may be further evidence on those devices, which Jha might try to erase. 

The others connected to the incident – Sagar Sharma (from Lucknow), Manoranjan (from Mysuru), Neelam (from Hisar), and Amol (from Latur), as well as Vicky Sharma – have all been arrested.

They told the police their actions were motivated by issues like unemployment and the ethnic violence in Manipur, and that they hoped to catch MPs’ attention and force a debate on these issues.

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Opposition MPs have demanded a thorough investigation into this incident. Parliament security protocols have been revamped and tightened, and visitors have, for now, been banned from entry.

The four persons arrested from parliament yesterday after a massive security breach, have been sent to police custody for seven days for questioning. Sagar Sharma and D Manoranjan, who were caught inside the Lok Sabha, and Neelam Devi and Amol Shinde — arrested outside Parliament — have to be questioned in detail, the Delhi Police contended.

Five persons were arrested yesterday for the security breach in the afternoon in which two men got into the Lok Sabha and let off thick yellow smoke from canisters they smuggled in.  

Sagar Sharma from Lucknow and D Manoranjan from Mysuru, had smuggled in smoke bombs which they let off inside parliament. The thick yellow smoke had caused panic for a while. The two were soon caught and overpowered by MPs and parliaments Watch and Ward staff.

The other two, unable to get visitors’ passes, were shouting slogans outside parliament, carrying the smoke bombs.

All four have been charged under tough anti-terror law UAPA and various sections of the Indian Penal Code.  

Their accomplice Vishal, in whose house they stayed before reaching Parliament, was detained later from Gurugram. Lalit Jha, a key conspirator and the alleged mastermind, is on the run.

In court today, the police contended that the incident resembled a terror attack and questioned the motive. “Was the purpose of the incident only to express one’s point or to carry out some major incident… It has to be investigated whether any terrorist organisation is involved in this entire incident,” they told the court.

The court was also told that the accused had probably smuggled in the smoke canisters in their shoes. The men had purchased two pairs of shoes from Lucknow and brought them here, the police said.

The canisters were purchased from Mumbai. The accused were also found carrying some pamphlets, the police said.

Presenting the accused before the special judge Hardeep Kaur, the police had sought 15 days’ custody. The judge, however, granted a week’s time.

DMK MP Kanimozhi – one of 15 opposition leaders suspended this afternoon for the rest of the Parliament’s Winter Session amid protests over Wednesday’s security breach – has criticised the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party over double-standards in holding parliamentarians to account. 

Speaking to NDTV, she highlighted the lack of action against Prathap Simha – the BJP MP whose office issued passes to the two men who smoke-bombed the Lok Sabha – after the Trinamool Congress’ Mahua Moitra was expelled from the House over unproven corruption allegations.

“I don’t know how asking for an explanation (from the government on how yesterday’s security breach occurred) us ‘unruly conduct’. They suspended 15 of us but the MP who issued the passes is still in Parliament… he has not been suspended, or even called for an inquiry,” she said.

“The goverment says ‘national security’ and disqualifies a Trinamool MP (Ms Moitra) but someone who allowed the men into the Lok Sabha is still sitting there… and we have been thrown out.”

“Does the BJP understand what democracy means?” Ms Kanimozhi asked.

READ | 15 Opposition MPs Suspended For Disrupting House Proceedings

Parliament resumed this morning but both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were immediately and repeatedly adjourned after protests from opposition lawmakers who demanded either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah make a statement on the smoke attack.

Both Houses refused this demand; Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, whose office is responsible for security in Parliament, and Rajya Sabha Chair Jagdeep Dhankhar made statements assuring MPs of a thorough investigation, which began this morning with eight Delhi Police officials being suspended.

However, opposition MPs remained steadfast in their demand and dozens of adjournment notices were moved; over two dozen were tabled in the Rajya Sabha alone, news agency PTI reported.

All, though, were discarded. “Yes, all notices were denied. We were asking either the Home Minister or the Prime Minister to come and tell us what happened… to explain how this security breach happened. Parliament is supposed to be a safe place and the entire cabinet, including the Prime Minister, comes to Parliament. If this place is not going to be safe, it raises a lot of questions.”

“We were asking them to explain but nobody came… nobody explained,” she said.

As the chaos continued, 14 members of the Lok Sabha, including Ms Kanimozhi, and Derek O’Brien, a Trinamool MP in the Rajya Sabha, were barred from Parliament for the rest of this session, which is the last full sitting, except for February’s vote-on-account, before next year’s general election.

Nine of the 14 suspended Lok Sabha MPs are from the Congress. From the DMK, Ms Kanimozhi and her party colleague, SP Parthiban, were suspended. The others are from Left parties.

READ | Trinamool’s Derek O’Brien Suspended From Rajya Sabha For “Unruly Behaviour”

Congress MP KC Venugopal called the suspensions a “horrible, undemocratic move”. “… there is no action against the BJP MP who facilitated the entry of the miscreants. This is murder of democracy. The BJP government has reduced Parliament to a rubber stamp…” he said on X (formerly Twitter).

Ms Kanimozhi told NDTV that BJP lawmakers, when in the opposition, had also protested in the Well of the House – an action now frowned upon by the saffron party as unbecoming of MPs.

“We were in the Well protesting and asking for an explanation.. .they said we were holding placards. Yes, if you don’t listen to us, then we have to hold placards for you to read,” she said.

“The governemnt wanted to continue today… pretend everything is normal and that there was no big security lapse. So we had to ask for an explanation. But apparently asking questions is wrong… so how is this a ‘temple of democracy’?” the DMK leader continued.

Parliament Smoke Attack: What Happened?

On Wednesday afternoon, as the Lok Sabha was holding a Zero Hour session, one man jumped out of the visitors’ gallery and into the chamber. He popped a yellow smoke canister and, in incredible scenes, jumped from desk to desk in an attempt to reach the Lok Sabha Speaker’s Chair.

He was overpowered and captured by MPs, several of whom then thrashed him. A second man remained in the gallery; he too opened a smoke canister, presumably to distract attention.

Two others – a man and a woman – opened smoke canisters outside Parliament. 

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All four have been arrested, as have two of their accomplices – Vicky Sharma and his wife. A sixth person, Lalit Jha, believed to be the mastermind behind this incident, is on the run.

The four who popped the canisters have been sent to police custody for seven days.