Parliament ‘attack’: Accused conducted recce beforehand, were in touch through Instagram

New Delhi: The breach of Parliament security on Wednesday was a meticulously-planned and coordinated operation executed by a group of six individuals who maintained communication through Instagram and other social media platforms to devise the plan, Delhi Police sources said.

“The suspects formulated the plan several days prior and conducted reconnaissance before entering Parliament on Wednesday and had selected the date of December 13 to execute their act,” a source said.

“Unified by a shared ideology, they collectively aimed to convey a message to the government. They were in touch with each other through social media site Instagram for over a year,” the source added.

Security agencies are currently investigating whether they received instructions from any individual or organisation.

The five accused arrested have been identified as Manoranjan D, a resident of Mysuru, Sagar Sharma, a resident of Lucknow, Neelam, a resident of Haryana’s Jind, Amol Shinde, a resident of Maharashtra’s Latur and Vikram a.k.a Vicky Sharma, a resident of Gurugram sector-7 and native of Hisar.

One of the accused, identified as Lalit Jha, is still absconding and police said that a manhunt has been initiated to nab him.

As per initial probe, it was also revealed that Manoranjan and Sharma had visitors’ passes for 45 minutes but they stayed in the visitors’ gallery for close to two hours.

The two had entered the Lok Sabha Hall from the visitors’ gallery. Manoranjan, an Engineering student from Karnataka and Sharma, got his visitor’s pass issued on the reference of Karnataka’s Mysuru BJP MP, Pratap Simha.

Neelam and Shinde were protesting with coloured flares outside Parliament and were detained by Delhi Police.

(IANS)