Gurugram: Clothes remained unattended on the wire near the wall of the house, which has a small verandah barricaded by a gate to restrict entry of the uninvited. Outside, three policemen kept watch on a group of journalists reporting from the spot while neighbours stood and watched silently from their terrace.
Located in the narrow bylanes of Old Gurugram, the house is where, the police said, a group of five people came together along with its resident, Vishal Sharma alias Vicky alias Junglee, to hatch the plan for intruding into Parliament.
On Wednesday around 5.30 pm, Sharma and his wife Rakhi were taken into custody by the Delhi Police from this house in Gurugram’s Housing Board Colony at Sector 7 extension.
A “freelance driver” by profession, Sharma and his wife have been living in the house of his adopted parents for the past 20 years. According to the neighbours, Sharma’s parents died when he was a child and was adopted by a family whose remaining members stay in London.
In the neighbourhood, Sharma is infamous for beating his wife and daughter after getting drunk. “He would drink everyday and create nuisance in the neighbourhood. We were troubled by his behaviour. He would beat his wife and daughter so much that they would run out of the house,” Manish Kumar Batra, who moved to Sector 7 three years ago, told ThePrint.
Another neighbour Jyoti said that well-wishers would advise Sharma’s wife to file a police complaint but she always refused. “She would say that he will be behind the bars only for a few days. Once he comes back, he will beat her harder and she was afraid of that,” the woman said.
According to the neighbours, Sharma did several odd jobs to make ends meet but couldn’t sustain because of his drinking habit.
“He was an alcoholic. He once worked as a guard, but was thrown out because of his drinking habit. Then, he worked as a driver,” said another neighbour requesting anonymity.
The couple has a minor daughter, who is under police protection.
“We coordinated with the Delhi Police in the detention of Vishal Sharma who resided in Sector 7 of Gurugran. Both Vishal and his wife are under the custody of Delhi Police. We learnt that the people involved in Parliament breach stayed at Sharma’s house before heading to Delhi,” Gurugram Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Varun Dahiya told ThePrint.
Perpetrators stayed at house
The four people — who were present in Parliament premises — had arrived in Delhi over the past one week, the police said.
Lalit Jha, one of the accused, allegedly took them to his friend Sharma’s place in Gurugram. The group then left for Parliament in a radio taxi from there Wednesday to carry out their plan.
While the Winter session was ongoing in Parliament, Manoranjan D. from Mysuru and Sagar Sharma from Lucknow jumped into the Lok Sabha chambers from the visitors gallery and threw a smoke canister hidden in the shoes.
Neelam Azad from Hisar and Anmol Shinde from Latur opened smoke canisters outside the House and shouted slogans of ‘Tana Shahi Nahi Chalegi (Dictatorship won’t be accepted)’.
All four of them were detained, and a case was lodged at the Parliament Street police station.
The accused were slapped with the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 452 (trespass), 153 (wantonly giving provocation, with intent to cause riot), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging duty) of IPC.
On Thursday, the Patiala Court sent the four accused who breached the security of Parliament to seven days of police remand. Jha was on the run till Thursday evening, and the Gurugram police were coordinating with their Delhi counterparts to trace him.
The perpetrators were connected with each other on social media and shared the same ideological leanings that strengthened their friendship, sources in the intelligence setup, adding that they were part of a group named ‘Justice for Azad Bhagat Singh’.
During questioning, the four accused nabbed from Parliament told their interrogators that they were not happy with the current government regarding unemployment, Manipur crisis, and farmers’ issue.
Back at the colony in Gurugram’s Sector 7 extension, the neighbours recalled seeing several people coming to Sharma’s house but were not sure who they were. “This was the first time we saw so many people coming to his house. Before we could know who they were, we saw it all on television,” Batra said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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