Man who intruded into Mamata Banerjee's house carried iron rod: Police
Kolkata, Jul 5: The man who sneaked into the Kalighat residence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee carried an iron rod, police said on Tuesday.
Preliminary investigation has revealed that the man, identified as Hafizul Mollah, scaled the walls of Banerjee's house early on Sunday and remained seated at a space opposite a hall where the TMC supremo holds press conferences till he was discovered by security guards the next morning, a Kolkata Police officer said.
"He sneaked into the CM's residence, hiding an iron rod under his shirt. We are questioning him to know the purpose of carrying it with him," the officer said.
The rod had fallen on the ground when he tried to escape after being spotted by security personnel at Banerjee's residence, he said.
Though Mollah's family claimed he is mentally unstable, police still suspect his motive of entering the CM's house.
The entire episode will be reconstructed and a Special Investigating Team (SIT) has been constituted to investigate the matter, the officer said.
Investigating officers have also spoken to Mollah's father and wife to find out his medical history. Plans are afoot to examine his mental state, he said.
Mollah had entered Banerjee's residence around 1.20 AM on Sunday and remained inside the premises till 8 AM the next morning when he was spotted by security personnel, who handed him over to Kalighat Police Station.
During interrogation, he claimed that he mistook Banerjee's residence as Kolkata Police Headquarters at Lalbazar but failed to give any plausible explanation as to why he scaled the wall of the premises and for what reason he wanted to visit the police headquarters at that hour.
The incident triggered a security scare with questions being raised about how he went past the Z-plus security cover that the chief minister gets, and entered her residence in a highly secure neighbourhood to spend a night without anyone noticing.
Soon after the incident, police took immediate steps to enhance security in and around the CM's residence.
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2001 Parliament attack anniversary: Vice Prez, PM Modi, MPs pay tributes to fallen heroes
New Delhi (PTI): Vice President C P Radhakrishnan on Saturday led Parliamentarians in paying floral tributes to those who died fending off terrorists who attacked the Parliament House in 2001.
On the 24th anniversary of the attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Radhakrishnan, who is also the Rajya Sabha Chair, were among the first to offer tributes.
A brief function is held outside the now old Parliament building (Samvidhan Sadan) every December 13 to mark the day.
CISF personnel presented a salute or "samman guard" at the venue, after which a moment of silence was observed to mark the anniversary. Till 2023, the CRPF used to offer 'salami shastra' (present arms).
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a senior party leader, were also present at the event. Union ministers Kiren Rijiju, Jitendra Singh and Arjun Ram Meghwal also lined up to offer flower petals at the photographs of the personnel who went down foiling the attack.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is in Latur to attend the funeral of former speaker of the Lower House of Parliament and ex-Union minister Shivraj Patil.
The attack was carried out by five armed terrorists, but personnel from the now former Parliament Security Service, CRPF and Delhi Police foiled the attack, with no terrorist being able to enter the building.
Six Delhi Police personnel, two Parliament Security Service personnel, a gardener and a TV video journalist were killed in the attack. All five terrorists were gunned down in the forecourt of the then Parliament building.
