Manoranjan had no criminal background: Police sources

PTI, Dec 14, 2023, 1:25 PM IST

Manoranjan D, one of the two men who jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors’ gallery on Wednesday, was associated with a social media page ‘Bhagat Singh Fan Club” and appeared to be a ”revolutionary type”, police sources said.

The 33-year-old Mysuru resident, along with Sagar Sharma from Lucknow, had shouted slogans and released yellow smoke from canisters that triggered panic and chaos in the House. Soon after the Parliament security breach incident, Mysuru police swung into action and started an investigation to find out the background of the Bachelor of Engineering graduate.

The probe revealed that he was associated with ‘Bhagat Singh Fan Club’ , police sources said on Thursday. ”We didn’t come across any criminal background. He was a very quiet person but looking at the books he read, he appeared to be a ‘revolutionary type’,” an ACP told PTI.

Another police officer said Manoranjan seems to be an admirer of Bhagat Singh, a freedom fighter who was executed by the British in 1931 at the age of 23. ”It appears like they wanted to replicate what Bhagat Singh and group did during the freedom struggle,” the officer said, noting that on April 8, 1929 Bhagat Singh and others symbolically bombed the Central Assembly in Delhi.

Manoranjan procured the pass to enter Parliament from Mysore-Kodagu MP, Pratap Simha, His father Devaraje Gowda, a farmer, said his son’s act is condemnable and he would disown him if found guilty. ”Hang my son if he is proven guilty”, he had said. Devaraje Gowda said Manoranjan used to read a lot of books, especially those of Swami Vivekananda.