Mahesh Kumawat (32), arrested in connection with the Parliament security breach case, was on Saturday remanded in the Delhi Police’s custody for seven days to probe his alleged involvement in the conspiracy along with five other arrested accused for the last two years, police officers said.
Kumawat, a resident of Nagaur district in Rajasthan, was arrested on Saturday after being questioned for two days in connection with the major security breach in Parliament earlier this week, with the police saying the 32-year-old allegedly helped the mastermind accused, Lalit Jha (35), in the “destruction of the mobile phone” to “destroy evidence” and to “hide the larger conspiracy”.
Kumawat had accompanied his younger brother Kailash Kumawat (27) and Jha to the Kartavya Path police station around 10 pm on Thursday. While Jha was arrested shortly after he surrendered to the police and subsequently sent to seven-day police custody the next day, the two siblings were handed over to the Delhi Police Special Cell for questioning.
After his arrest on Saturday, the Delhi Police produced Mahesh Kumawat before a local court, seeking his custody alleging that the accused “wanted to create anarchy in the country so that they can compel the government to meet their unjust and illegal demands”, people familiar with the matter said.
{{/usCountry}}After his arrest on Saturday, the Delhi Police produced Mahesh Kumawat before a local court, seeking his custody alleging that the accused “wanted to create anarchy in the country so that they can compel the government to meet their unjust and illegal demands”, people familiar with the matter said.
{{/usCountry}}“He was in contact with other accused persons in hatching the conspiracy for the last two years. He helped the mastermind accused, Lalit Jha, in the destruction of the mobile phone to destroy evidence and to hide the larger conspiracy,” the Delhi Police told the court through the public prosecutor, one of the people cited above said, requesting anonymity.
Four other people accused of the crime — Sagar Sharma (27) and Manoranjan D (34), who walked past three layers of security before rappelling down from the visitors’ gallery and spraying coloured smoke inside the Lok Sabha on December 13, and Amol Shinde (25) and Neelam Singh (37), who were arrested while shouting slogans outside Parliament — were remanded to police custody for seven days on Thursday. Lalit Jha, the fifth accused, had fled from outside Parliament after recording the video of the protest.
“Mahesh was also member of the now-deleted Bhagat Singh Fan Club page created [on social media] by the accused,” a senior investigator said, declining to be named.
Police said Mahesh was involved with Jha in destroying mobile phones of all the accused to “eliminate evidence of chats”. Jha, investigators on Friday alleged, had destroyed five mobile phones which were already with him when the four people were protesting inside and outside the Parliament building.
The brazen incursion had come on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament.
After making the video, according to the police, Jha took a bus to Jaipur where he stayed a night in a hotel before heading to Kumawat’s house in Nagaur. The two along with Mahesh’s brother Kailash returned to Delhi by bus on Thursday and went straight to the police station.
Investigators said that Mahesh had 1,008 followers on Instagram and his last of the 198 posts was shared on June 6.
“Jab Siyasat Bahri aur janta goongi ho jaaye tab samajh lena ki inqalab zaroori hai (When politics becomes deaf and people become dumb, then understand that revolution is necessary),” his last post read. He had also shared posts about farmers’ protests and the ethnic violence in Manipur.
(With agency inputs)