Parliament security breach: Who is Mahesh Kumawat? Why was he arrested?

The Delhi Police has arrested Mahesh Kumawat, a resident of Rajasthan's Nagaur and a sixth accused in the December 13 Parliament security breach case, who was allegedly in contact with the other accused for the last two years for hatching the conspiracy and had destroyed their mobile phones to get rid of the evidence.

The police have already arrested Sagar Sharma, Manoranjan D, Amol Shinde, Neelam Devi and Lalit Mohan Jha in the Parliament security breach case.

Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D had jumped into the Lok Sabha's chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow smoke from canisters and shouted slogans, before being overpowered by the MPs. Around the same time, Amol Shinde and Neelam Devi released coloured smoke from canisters while shouting "tanashahi nahi chalegi" outside the Parliament premises.

Lalit Jha, the fifth accused, allegedly circulated videos of the protest outside the complex on social media.

Kumawat is likely to be confronted with the other accused during his questioning.

Parliament security breach: Who is Mahesh Kumawat?

• After Mahesh Kumawat was arrested following his questioning and produced in court on Saturday, police sources said he was part of a Parliament security breach plan where he had to stand on another gate with canisters but he could not come on December 13, the day of the incident.
• Kumwat was in contact with other accused persons in hatching the conspiracy for the last two years. He helped the mastermind accused, Lalit Jha, in the destruction of mobile phone to destroy evidence and to hide the larger conspiracy, the prosecutor told a Delhi court.
• The prosecutor said Kumwat was required to be questioned to unearth the entire conspiracy.
• The police sought his custody for 15 days. The defence counsel opposed the police application, claiming that the Kumawat was arrested without any reason in a violation of his fundamental rights.
• During the arguments, the prosecutor told the court that the custody of the accused was required "to find the actual motive behind the attack and his association with enemy country and terrorist organisations".
• The Delhi Police said Kumawat has been arrested on charges of destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy. He was also a member of the now-deleted Bhagat Singh Fan Club page created by the accused.
• It is suspected that Kumawat, a resident of Kuchaman city, helped Jha stay in Nagaur where he fled after the Wednesday incident.
• Kumawat had come on his own to a police station along with Lalit Jha on Thursday night and both were handed over to the Special Cell. He was being questioned since then, the police said.
• His Instagram account suggested that he was "highly inspired by Bhagat Singh and Chhatrapati Shivaji. On his profile, he wrote slogans like 'inkalab zindabaad', and 'agar desh mein kranti lani hai to khud krantikaari hona chahiye'".

(With inputs from agencies)