Mumbai: The usually quiet Zari Budruk village in Latur district’s Chakur taluka in Maharashtra has been abuzz since Wednesday with police, reporters and idle gawkers streaming in and out.
The subject of interest is a youth from the village, Amol Shinde, whom everyone simply remembers as a “quiet, regular child” who grew up playing sports and was desperately trying to get recruited in the Indian Army, and when that didn’t happen, the police.
Shinde is among the six accused in Wednesday’s Parliament security breach, in which two men with smoke cannisters jumped onto the Lok Sabha benches from the visitors’ gallery. The two have been said to be part of a social media group — which allegedly includes Shinde — which had “planned the incident for months”, as has been reported by ThePrint.
While two of the accused were inside Parliament, Shinde and another accused remained outside, where they too opened a gas canister and raised slogans like “tanashahi nahi chalegi (down with dictatorship)”.
While five of the six, including Shinde have been arrested, one has been detained.
Delhi Police have booked the accused under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. They have also been charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 452 (trespass), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), and 353 (criminal force to deter public servants from discharge of duty).
Talking to ThePrint Thursday, Rohidas Waghmare, a member of the Latur Zilla Parishad representing the Chakur taluka, said Shinde comes from a very poor family of landless labourers.
According to him, the accused’s mother works as an agricultural labourer, while his father works as a labourer cleaning the premises of the Khandoba Temple in the village.
“I know the family well. Amol was always a quiet, well-behaved child growing up. Of late, nobody knew what he was up to. He would stay in the village for about a week or so and then disappear for two months. Everyone knew he was trying to get recruited in the army or the police,” Waghmare added.
The Latur Zilla Parishad member said Shinde has three siblings — two brothers, one of whom does small carpentry works in the village, while the other drives an autorickshaw in Mumbai, and a married sister.
Shinde’s parents, Dhanraj and Kesarbai, told television reporters Wednesday that their son was trying very hard to get into the Indian Army and was frustrated that he had crossed the age limit without making the cut.
“I don’t know why he did what he [allegedly] did but he was dejected. He used to say he was disappointed that he did not get into the Army, the one thing that he really wanted to do. He would say he wanted to serve the country. He would complain that he has studied so much, what is the point? ‘I have always excelled in what I’ve done’, he would say,” Kesarbai told reporters.
Wednesday’s security breach came on the anniversary of the 13 December attack on the old Parliament building 22 years ago, which had killed eight security personnel and a gardener. All five terrorists were also killed. Former Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front militant who had surrendered in 1994, Afzal Guru was hanged in 2013 for his role in the incident.
What raises further questions about Wednesday’s security breach is that just days ago, US-Canada-based Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun threatened to attack the Indian “Parliament on or before 13 December”, following which, intelligence sources said, the security had been “stepped up”.
‘Wasn’t working with any organisation’
In their interviews with reporters, Shinde’s parents have said they aren’t sure of his exact educational qualifications, but spoke proudly of his sporting achievements.
Kesarbai elaborated on how the police searched the only cabinet in their house and seized all papers related to him. “The documents were related to his sporting achievements where he stood first in tournaments,” she said.
Nobody in the village was aware of Shinde’s association with the others accused in Wednesday’s Parliament attack, and added that to the best of their knowledge, he wasn’t working with any organisation.
“These must be acquaintances he made during his travels outside the village,” Waghmare said.
Shinde’s parents said that their son had been travelling across Maharashtra, and even to some other centres in the country, for various recruitment drives since around the time he was in class XII.
“He went to Assam before the [Covid induced] lockdown, after which he went to Ratnagiri, Nashik, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Pune. He had said his ambition was to get into the military, but that didn’t happen, so now he is trying for police recruitment,” Shinde’s father told reporters.
According to Dhanraj and Kesarbai, they last spoke to their son on 9 December, when he told them he was leaving for Delhi for a recruitment drive.
They said they made him promise that he would call once he reached the national capital. “He complained of his mobile battery being down, but promised to call on 10 December at 8 pm,” said Dhanraj.
The call never came.
News about their son came only three days later when the Latur Police came knocking at the door of the Shinde household.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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