The Karnataka Police probing the Parliament breach gathering information on the suspects who intruded into the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, said that one of the suspects in the case, Sagar Sharma, had worked in Bengaluru for at least two years around 2019. Police are yet to determine whether Sharma had come into contact with Manoranjan, the suspect who opened smoke canisters inside the Parliament, during his time in Bengaluru.

“The investigation is being conducted by the Delhi police. We have limited information and opportunities to corroborate our evidence. What we have found so far is that Manoranjan does not have any criminal background, and no cases have been registered against him,” said a senior intelligence officer.

Vijayanagar subdivision Assistant Commissioner of Police Gajendra Prasad of Mysuru mentioned that although there was information about Manoranjan coming in contact with his accomplices through a Bhagat Singh fan page on social media, no electronic equipment belonging to Manoranjan could be found at his house. “We can’t verify this information since we couldn’t recover any gadget,” he said.

Another senior officer from the intelligence department said that from interviews with the family, they have learned that over the past three months, Manoranjan had limited the use of electronic gadgets. “We have also been told he had deactivated his social media accounts. We are verifying the claim,” the officer said.

Mysuru police also added that Manoranjan had been in touch with the personal assistant of Pratap Simha, the MP who issued the passes for both men. “We are awaiting a response from the MP’s office to verify that passes were issued to Manoranjan at least three times by the MP’s office,” the officer said. It is alleged that the passes issued earlier were used to conduct reconnaissance of the visitor’s gallery before the intrusion.

Manoranjan’s mother, Shilaja D, on Thursday morning, told reporters that he left for Mysuru three days before the intrusion. “He told us that he was going to Bengaluru. We came to know about this only when the news came on TV,” she said. She added that her son didn’t have many friends and spent most of his time reading.

Meanwhile, the alleged police affiliations of Manoranjan had become a topic of discussion after social media accounts attached to the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed Manoranjan was a member of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), a student wing of the Communist Party of India. BJP party workers of Mysuru shared a photo of the Convention of SFI on social media platforms and alleged that Parliament security breach accused D. Manoranjan was part of SFI. They claimed that by availing a pass to Parliament as voters of the Mysuru Kodagu constituency, they are attempting to defame BJP and MP Pratap Simha. They even urged a ban on SFI.

However, Mysore City Police contradicted these claims, clarifying that SFI clarified the person in the photo was T. S. Vijay Kumar, the SFI Mysuru district president, not Manoranjan. SFI leaders reiterated on social media that neither SFI nor Vijay Kumar had any connections with Manoranjan. “The communalist BJP party workers of this country who cannot stand our ideology have dragged the name of SFI Mysore district president Vijay Kumar into this case, and BJP is spreading false news on social media…. We are demanding to file a complaint and take appropriate legal action against the BJP’s IT cells and the admins who are managing it and all the individuals and groups who are sharing false news,” the party said in a statement.