Lalit Jha, Parliament Breach Planner, May Have Burned Key Evidence: Sources

Last evening the four who opened the smoke cans - Sagar Sharma and D Manoranjan inside Parliament, and Neelam Devi and Amol Shinde outside - were sent to police custody for a week.

Lalit Jha - the alleged mastermind behind the Parliament security breach - burned the mobile phones of four accomplices in a bid to destroy evidence, Delhi Police sources told NDTV Friday. Jha, who surrendered to the cops last night, said he had kept the mobile phones of the two men who popped yellow smoke canisters inside the Lok Sabha, and the man and woman did so outside Parliament.

Jha told police he filmed the latter incident, uploaded the clip to Instagram, and sent it to a Kolkata-based NGO to ensure media coverage, before fleeing the scene. On the run for 48 hours, he claimed to have travelled to Nagaur in Rajasthan to stay with two friends. Lalit Jha and another man, Mahesh, returned to Delhi Thursday evening, after which Jha gave himself up at a police station in central Delhi.

A teacher from Kolkata, Lalit Jha has been arrested and handed over to the Special Cell of Delhi Police, which is leading the investigation. His claim of having burned the phones is being verified.