New Delhi, 14 November (H.S.): A Delhi court has rejected the second regular bail applications filed by Manoranjan D and Sagar Sharma, accused in the December 2023 Parliament security breach case, observing that the allegations against them appeared prima facie true.

Special NIA Judge Kiran Bansal held that the material placed before the court provided reasonable grounds to believe that the allegations against the two accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) were prima facie true.

The court observed that the accused had allegedly attempted to create a situation similar to the 2001 Parliament attack anniversary incident. It noted that statements recorded under Sections 161 and 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) indicated that the accused had held planned meetings to discuss and prepare for the alleged act.

The court also rejected their plea seeking bail on grounds of parity with co-accused Neelam Ranoliya and Mahesh Kumawat, observing that their alleged roles were substantially different. It noted that Ranoliya had remained outside the Parliament building and had not entered the premises, while Kumawat was not even in Delhi on the day of the incident. In contrast, Manoranjan D and Sagar Sharma had allegedly entered the Lok Sabha chamber after jumping from the visitors' gallery and released smoke canisters concealed in their shoes.

During the hearing, advocate Akhand Pratap Singh, appearing for the Delhi Police, opposed the bail applications, arguing that the allegations against the accused were extremely serious and directly concerned the security of Parliament.

The Delhi Police had filed the first chargesheet in the case on June 7, 2024, followed by a supplementary chargesheet on July 15, 2024. The charges were filed under Sections 186, 353, 153, 452, 201, 34 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with Sections 13, 16 and 18 of the UAPA.

The six accused named in the chargesheets under the UAPA are Manoranjan D, Lalit Jha, Amol Shinde, Mahesh Kumawat, Sagar Sharma and Neelam Azad. The initial chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police ran to approximately 1,000 pages.

The incident took place on December 13, 2023, when two accused allegedly jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors' gallery during parliamentary proceedings. One of them reportedly moved across the desks and released a coloured smoke canister concealed in his shoe, causing coloured smoke to spread inside the chamber and triggering panic.

Several MPs intervened and apprehended the two men before Parliament security personnel took them into custody. Meanwhile, two other individuals were apprehended outside Parliament for releasing smoke from canisters and raising slogans.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar