After apprehending the prized catch, mastermind Lalit Mohan Jha, in the Parliament security breach case, the Delhi Police, along with other probe agencies, is investigating the political affiliations of all the accused named in the FIR. Additionally, probe sleuths said the accused will be interrogated to ascertain whether they had any association with an enemy country or a terrorist organisation.

The investigation will also focus on determining who assisted them in conducting a reconnaissance of the entire Parliament security system and who guided them in obtaining visitor entry pass recommendations.

The Delhi Police claim Lalit has confessed that the accused met many times to hatch a conspiracy to breach Parliament security. “We need him to confront the accused with each other, to locate the mobile phones, to take him to the hotel where he stayed for 4 days, and to know the financial transactions and funding behind the attack,” police sources said.

Lalit Mohan Jha was the mastermind of the Parliament security breach case, said police.

In a remand application, the Delhi Police said Lalit’s custodial interrogation was required for in-depth probe to unearth the larger conspiracy behind the attack, involvement of other persons, and to find the actual motive.

After a brief hearing, Special NIA Judge Hardeep Kaur sent Lalit to seven days of police custody. The Delhi Police had sought his 15-day custody.

Lalit, who had been on the run after the incident on Wednesday, surrendered before a police station in the New Delhi district on Thursday night.

Police said Jha’s custodial interrogation was required for ‘in-depth investigation to unearth the larger conspiracy behind the attack, involvement of other persons, and to find the actual motive behind the attack.

Jha disclosed that they wanted to create anarchy in the country to compel the government to meet their demands. He took the phones of other accused to hide them and destroy evidence as part of the larger conspiracy. He disclosed that he threw his phone away on the way from Jaipur to Delhi,” police informed the court.

Public Prosecutor Akhand Pratap Singh, representing the Delhi Police, submitted that Lalit had disclosed his involvement. He also mentioned that the accused persons in the case belong to different places and, therefore, need to be taken to various locations. Singh further stated that the mobile phones, allegedly destroyed by the accused, have to be recovered.

Special Judge Hardeep Kaur remanded Jha in Delhi Police custody based on an application moved by the prosecution, asserting that he was required for questioning to unearth the entire conspiracy. During the brief hearing, the prosecutor informed the court that Lalit was arrested on Thursday night and underwent a detailed interrogation.

“He disclosed how he is the mastermind of the entire conspiracy... He is required to unearth the entire conspiracy and the modus operandi,” the public prosecutor told the court while seeking his remand for 15 days. Police also mentioned that he needs to be questioned about a phone he was using, which has not been traced yet.

Lalit, accompanied by a man, turned himself in at the Kartavya Path police station in the national capital last evening, where he was arrested before being handed over to the Special Cell, the specialized counter-terror unit of the city police.

Based on the investigation so far, the police stated that the December 13 security breach is a well-planned attack, even though the accused are all from different states. On Thursday night, senior police officials, including two Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCP) and Additional Commissioners of Police, interrogated Lalit Jha, during which he narrated the whole incident to officials.

Delhi Police’s Special Cell has also detained two more people, including one from Rajasthan. The two have been identified as Mahesh and Kailash, and their detention comes after the arrest of Jha, the fifth accused described as the mastermind behind the plan.

In its first information report (FIR) in the Parliament security breach case, Delhi Police mentioned that the two persons who opened smoke canisters in the Lok Sabha chamber had smuggled them in cavities cut into the left sole of custom-made sports shoes supported by thick rubber layers.

The pamphlets that the duo—Manoranjan D and Sagar Sharma—carried into the Lok Sabha had the picture of a fist against the backdrop of a tricolour, a slogan in Hindi, and a slogan in English on the Manipur violence issue.

According to the FIR, the smoke canisters, which were opened inside and outside Parliament, had warnings and instructions to “wear goggles and gloves” while opening. A cavity was cut into the left sole of the LCR-made grey-colored sports shoes of Sagar Sharma. The thickness of the soles was increased by affixing additional rubber to support the cavity, it stated, adding that Manoranjan D’s sports shoes too had a similar cavity in the left sole. Police said the right sole of the shoe was also found partly cut. The used creative color smoke was stated to be burst by Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D inside the Lok Sabha well.