Parliament security breach: Manoranjan not on social media, estranged from friends

Bengaluru, Dec 14: Manoranjan D., one of the accused in the Parliament security breach case, does not have a social media account and was estranged from his old friends for the past six years, preliminary investigation has revealed, said sources on Thursday.

Sources explained that Manoranjan created his own circle of friends in Bengaluru. Authorities are probing how Manoranjan got in touch with other accused from North India.

Police sources also suggest that Manoranjan might have social media accounts under different names.

He completed his engineering course at the reputed Bengaluru Institute of Technology (BIT) in Bengaluru. In 2016, he went to Cambodia.

The initial probe further revealed that Manoranjan was issued a Parliament pass three times by the office of MP Pratap Simha.

The investigations also revealed that Manoranjan studied the security arrangements in detail during the visits and planned the attack. The office of Pratap Simha initially refused to issue the pass, but later, the accused applied pressure through a local personal assistant from Mysuru city to obtain the pass.

Meanwhile, villagers in his native Mallapura near Arkalgud in Hassan state that Manoranjan has brought disrepute to the village,and have branded it as an act of betrayal to the country.

"If it were any other matter, it would be different. The entire country is learning that a boy from our village has committed such an act. It is not possible to walk into the local police station for us commoners. Without any help, how could he have smuggled the canister inside Parliament? Even MPs are required to deposit their phones. There is someone behind him. Manoranjan had never stepped into the village; his father used to visit the land and return to Mysuru," the villagers state.