Police custody of Parliament breach accused extended

A Delhi court on Thursday extended till January 5 the police custody of four accused arrested in the Parliament security breach case, after the city police said they needed to uncover all those involved in the conspiracy.

Special Judge Hardeep Kaur extended the custody of accused Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Amol Dhanraj Shinde and Neelam Devi by 15 days on an application moved by the city police.

The Delhi Police sought extension of their custody by 15-days, saying the accused were to be taken to various places for investigation which was 'at a crucial stage'.

Public Prosecutor Akhand Pratap Singh told the court the accused were required to be quizzed further 'to find out 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.

The counsel for the accused opposed police's application seeking further remand.

The lawyer contended that based on the arguments put forward by the prosecutor, a maximum of three more days of custodial interrogation should be enough.

The court, meanwhile, directed the Investigating Officer (IO) to hand over a copy of the first information report (FIR) to the counsel appearing for Neelam, the only woman accused arrested in the case.

"The concerned IO (investigating officer) is directed to furnish the copy of the present FIR to the applicant/accused as per law," the judge said in the order passed on Neelam's application.

In a major security breach on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack on December 13, two of them- Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D- jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow gas from canisters and shouted slogans before being overpowered by some MPs.

Around the same time, two others -- Amol Shinde and Neelam Devi -- also sprayed coloured gas from canisters while shouting 'tanashahi nahi chalegi' outside the Parliament House premises.

Besides the four accused, police have also arrested Lalit Jha and Mahesh Kumawat in the case. All are being interrogated in police custody.