Missing PM' Pamphlets, Lucknow Shoes: Delhi Police To Court On Parliament Intruders

As of last night, Parliament security protocols have been revamped and tightened. Visitors have, for now, been banned from entry, and that of non-essential staff has been controlled.

New Delhi: The two men at the heart of the Parliament security breach had pamphlets they wanted to give Prime Minister Narendra Modi - who was not present - police told a Delhi court this evening. The intruders, including the two from outside Parliament, also had a pamphlet calling the PM a "missing person" and offering a cash reward from a Swiss bank for relevant information, the cops claimed.

The four intruders - Sagar Sharma, D Manoranjan, Neelam Devi, and Amol Shinde - were arrested minutes after the smoke scare yesterday, and produced before a Delhi court today. A fifth person - Vicky Sharma, at whose Gurugram home the others met - and his wife were detained. They were released late this evening.

A sixth person - Lalit Jha from Bihar, believed to be the mastermind - is on the run.

The police sought custody for 15 days, arguing they needed time to take the four to Mumbai (where the smoke canisters were bought) and Lucknow (where shoes used to smuggle the canisters were bought), as well as uncover possible "terrorist" angles. The police also suggested more people may have been involved in the smoke attack "because a common man cannot work with such planning".

The police also told the court the motives of those involved are, so far, unclear. Yesterday, the four who popped the canisters reportedly told police they wanted to highlight issues like joblessness and the ethnic violence in Manipur, and that they wanted to bring these to MPs' attention.