Manoranjan D likely mastermind of Parliament breach: Police

The Delhi Police Special Cell suspects Manoranjan D one of the six people arrested in the Parliament security breach -- to be the mastermind behind the conspiracy, hatched to send a message to the ruling government by doing 'something big', said a source privy to the probe.

According to police, Lalit Jha, another accused, has revealed to the interrogators that Manoranjan was the one who motivated other members to do something big and planned the breach in Parliament.

However, his, Jha's, role was only to destroy the evidence after the act.

Manoranjan was arrested along with Sagar from inside the parliament on December 13. Both had jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber and opened yellow colour canisters hidden in their shoes.

Manoranjan, a native of Mysore, had quit engineering to engage in social work. Though he was unemployed, he managed to visit Cambodia, the source said.

Jha was produced before the court on Friday from where he was sent to 14 days of police custody. Police told the court that they needed to confront Jha with other accused and collect scientific and digital evidence related to the case.

According to the source, Jha told police that Manoranjan had sent tickets to him and others on WhatsApp to come to Mysore in Karnataka a year ago.

Another officer said the doctors on Friday started conducting the psychoanalysis tests on all six.

The accused were taken to a forensic lab where they underwent the test, which is supposed to help interrogators ascertain their mental condition, the person said.

Police said the accused have revealed that they were upset with unemployment and the farmer and Manipur crisis.

They are yet to reveal the proper sequence and reason behind their act inside and outside Parliament, police said.

Meanwhile, a Delhi court on Friday extended till January 5 the police custody of Jha for his sustained interrogation.

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

Police sought extension of Jha's custody, saying he was needed to be taken to various places for investigation, which was at a crucial stage .

The Public Prosecutor told the court he was required to be quizzed further to unravel the entire conspiracy and to get to the root of the matter.

"We have to find out the actual persons involved in the conspiracy... All are required to be looked into in totality while investigating this matter. We have to find out the ultimate objective of the offence," the prosecutor told the court, emphasising the need for their sustained custodial interrogation.

Police had earlier told the court that Jha was the mastermind of the incident.

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