The Delhi Police has interrogated two additional individuals, including the son of a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) from Karnataka’s Bagalkote area, in connection with the Parliament security breach case on December 13. The individuals have been identified as Sai Krishna, the son of the retired Deputy Superintendent of Police from Bagalkote, Karnataka, and Atul Kulshreshtra, a resident of Jalalpur, Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, Special Judge Hardeep Kaur on Thursday extended the custody of the accused—Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Amol Dhanraj Shinde, and Neelam Devi — by 15 days as requested by the city police.
Sai Krishna, reportedly a techie and close friend of one of the Parliament intruders, Manoranjan D, who entered the Lok Sabha chamber on December 13, releasing yellow gas from canisters, was questioned by a team from the Special Cell on Wednesday. Sai Krishna and Manoranjan D were batchmates at a Bengaluru engineering college. Manoranjan is among the four accused in the case now facing charges under the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Sai Krishna was taken into custody from his residence in Vidyagiri, Bagalkote, on Wednesday night by a team from the Delhi Police. He works for a multinational company in Bengaluru and was Manoranjan’s roommate during college.
Another individual detained by the Delhi Police is Atul Kulshreshtha from Jalaun, Uttar Pradesh. Preliminary investigations revealed that Atul, also known as “Baccha,” has no past criminal records or political affiliations. However, he has been passionate about the ideology of Shaheed Bhagat Singh since his student life. Atul, connected to the Bhagat Singh Fans Club, was caught on record chatting with the Parliament intruders on Facebook, leading to his arrest for interrogation. Atul, a participant in the farmers’ agitation, has two sons and a daughter.
On Thursday, Special Judge Hardeep Kaur granted a 15-day extension to the custody of the accused—Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Amol Dhanraj Shinde, and Neelam Devi—following an application by the city police. The extension was sought, stating that the accused needed to be taken to various places for investigation at a crucial stage.
Public Prosecutor Akhand Pratap Singh informed the court that further questioning of the accused was necessary “to find out the entire conspiracy and to get to the root of the matter.” The prosecutor stressed the need for sustained custodial interrogation to determine the actual persons involved in the conspiracy and understand the ultimate objective of the offense.
The counsel for the accused opposed the police’s application for further remand, suggesting that based on the prosecutor’s arguments, a maximum of three more days of custodial interrogation should be sufficient. The court directed the Investigating Officer (IO) to provide a copy of the FIR to the counsel representing Neelam, the only woman accused arrested in the case.
A total of six individuals have been arrested in connection with the security breach in Parliament on December 13, with Lalit Jha and Mahesh Kumawat being the two other accused arrested in the case.
According to police sources, the six individuals arrested in the Parliament security breach case were part of half a dozen WhatsApp groups named after Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekar Azad. Members of these groups regularly discussed the thoughts and ideas of the freedom fighters and shared related video clips.
