Indian Mujahideen claims hand in Delhi blast
Source: The Sangai Express / (Agencies)

New Delhi, September 08 2011: Investigators today detained three persons including a cybercafe owner in Jammu and Kashmir and questioned another in Bihar as they groped for definite leads into the suitcase bomb blast outside Delhi High Court.

Indian Mujahideen(IM) in an email to media houses in Mumbai and Delhi, purportedly from the group, also claimed responsibility for yesterday's terror attack after HuJI made a similar claim perplexing probe agencies who do not rule out a prank.

IM claimed HuJI had no role to play in the blast.

Investigators traced the Bangladesh-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI) email claiming responsibility to a cyber-cafe in Kishtwar in J and K and detained its owner Mehmood Khawja and two others for questioning.

The death toll in the blast that ripped through the reception complex rose to 12 with a 40-year-old man succumbing to his injuries at RML Hospital even as the High Court resumed full-fledged proceedings after tight security checks at the entry gates.

"We are investigating the email link from Kishtwar district in connection with the Delhi blast," J and K DGP Kuldeep Khoda said in Jammu.

The mail from IM was purportedly written by "Chotoo" and sent from "[email protected]" .

The mail was received by the media houses at 12:37 PM today.

"We are examining the email received by the media houses about its authenticity and veracity and (we are) taking it seriously," Secretary (Internal Security) in the Home Ministry UK Bansal told reporters.

Bansal also said that some information indicating a Kashmir link with yesterday's HuJI mail are being pursued with the help of J and K police.

Security agencies including National Investigation Agency (NIA) are also looking into the IM email but serious apprehensions were being raised whether this was a genuine mail or a prank being played by somebody.

NIA also announced a reward of Rs five lakh for anyone providing clues about the blast.

In Patna, a man who was arrested on charges of using a stolen ATM card, is being interrogated by the joint team led by NIA.

In the second email received by media houses it warned that another blast will take place at a shopping mall.

The mail also reasoned that they had chosen Wednesday as the day of the blast as it was a busy day for the high court.

The Delhi high court hears Public Interest Litigation on Wednesday.

Sources said as of now nothing was being left to chance and the origin of the mail was being ascertained and, if need be, the service provider Google would also be contacted.

However, the mail does not resemble the earlier mails sent by Indian Mujahdieen which claimed responsibilities for blasts in Varanasi and Delhi.

The fresh mail mentioned: "We own the responsibility of today's blast at the Delhi high court.

Our demand is that Afzal Guru's death sentence should be repealed immediately as we would target major high courts and the Supreme Court of India," it said.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, the central government handed over the May 25 high court blast case to the NIA as well.

Home secretary U K Bansal said, "The Anti Terror Squad (ATS) teams from neighbouring states are to come to Delhi tonight." The director general NIA is to discuss the case, the home secretary added.

Intelligence and security agencies have stepped up their search for a recently regrouped pack of the banned Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) members after the Delhi High Court blast on Wednesday.

Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday detained a person resembling one of the two sketches of the terror suspects in the Delhi high court blast.

The 28-year-old man identifed as Shehzad, and employed in Pune, was detained in Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh around noon.

However, he was let off after his credentials were verified beyond doubt.

The local police have directed him to report to them before leaving Balrampur till further notice.

The police action came following a tip-off to the cops on phone about a man resembling one of the sketches released by the Delhi Police.

As the caller provided the exact location of the suspect, police rounded him up from Bela village of Balrampur district.

The locals of Bela village confirmed the details that Shehzad provided to the police during his quizzing later on.

Shehzad works at a factory in Pune and had reached Balrampur on Thursday for a holiday.

Balrampur police had verified these details with the owners of the said factory in Pune who confirmed his presence in Pune at the time of the blast.

Police were gathering more details about his family background and his contacts in other cities, if any.

The NIA and the Delhi police have ruled out the lead that a stolen Santro Hyundai car was used in the incident.

Home secretary RK Singh said that the car had nothing to do with the terror attack.

The car was merely a subject of dispute between two people.

The stolen Hyundai car was seen near the blast site yesterday as well as on the previous blast on May 25, has been found, according to sources.

The NIA probing the blast, arrested three persons in Kishtwar, a mountainous area in Jammu region of the state, in connection with the case.

The arrested persons include the owner of 'Global cyber cafe' from where the 'HuJI' (Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, a Pakistan based terror group) mail claiming responsibility of the blast had been sent.

Director General of Jammu and Kashmir police Kuldeep Khoda told TOI that the police traced the cyber cafe in Kishtwar from where some person had emailed the media organizations in New Delhi.

The police also rounded up the people who visited the cafe on Wednesday to get some definite leads in the probe.

The police identified the three detained persons as the cybercafe owner, 28 year old Mehmood Aziz Khwaja, of Karsan Balla Mohalla in Kishtwar, his brother Khalid Hussian and Ashiwini Kumar, who works at their cyber-cafe at Shahidi chowk in Kishtwar town.

Police sources from Kishtwar said that during the questioning of the three, police investigators got some vital clues about the physical appearance of the person who sent the email at around 1 PM on Wednesday.

Police sources added that a massive man-hunt for the email sender was on.

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