Parliament security breach: Who is arrested accused Lalit Jha, PM Modi's strong critic?

New Delhi: In a massive security breach in Parliament on Wednesday, two men jumped from the public gallery into the area where MPs sit and released yellow gas from canisters and shouted slogans. They were soon controlled by the MPs, who used slaps and punches to teach the two men ‘a lesson.’ 

The six accused include Sagar Sharma and D Manoranjan, who used yellow smoke canisters inside Lok Sabha, and Neelam Devi and Amol Shinde, who sued the canisters outside Parliament. Another two accused were Lalit Jha and Vicky Sharma, both from Gurugram. Jha reportedly shot videos of the other accused deploying smoke canisters outside and Sharma sheltered him to evade arrest. 

Who is Lalit Jha? 

Arrested accused Lalit Jha, who allegedly gave shelter to the other accused at his residence in Gurugram, had posted several content against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media, by using caricatures and cartoons. 

In one of his post on August 5, 2021, he shared a caricature depicting PM Modi speaking to a beggar that “Maine to 35 saal bheekh maangkar khaya hai, tera to ye dusra hi saal hai beta. (I have been begging for alms for 35 years, and this is only your second year, my child)."

In a May 8, 2023 Instagram post, he called for the creation of a film titled 'The Gujarat Story,' drawing parallels with 'The Kerala Story.' The request was prompted by the NCRB data highlighting cases of women disappearances in Gujarat.

While the four intruders who breached the Parliament security were arrested and one accused identified as Vicky was detained.

Sources indicate that all five individuals who arrived from outside Delhi had stayed together in Gurugram at the residence of Lalit Jha.