New Delhi: More than 48 hours after Wednesday’s bomb blast at gate number 5 of the Delhi High Court, which has killed 13 people, investigators led by the NIA were clutching at straws.
The NIA on Friday received a third terror mail from a Yahoo mail account named ' Kill Indian', in which a terror group has claimed the responsibility for the Delhi blast, though it didn’t name the name of the organisation. The email has threatened to increase the number of terror attacks in India in the coming future. The government has reportedly asked Yahoo! for the details of the e-mail account.
The third e-mail in connection to the Delhi blast was sent in numerical code. It was deciphered by the police. The e-mail said that Ahmedabad was the next target of terrorists.
A high-alert has been declared in Gujarat after the e-mail threatening terror attack in Ahmedabad was received, a report in DNA says.
The Home Ministry advised other states too maintain vigil.
Thursday saw a second e-mail (by the Indian Mujahideen, of course) claiming responsibility for the blast. It threatened to target a shopping mall in Delhi next. “Rok sako toh rok lo (stop us if you can),” the e-mail challenged.
The mail came even as investigators chanced upon three VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) calls made from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) on Wednesday minutes before the blast. Investigators are monitoring 250 phone calls and are also looking at 35 VoIP calls — of which three were made 45 minutes before the blast.
Intelligence sources said the first call was received at 9.27 am, second at 9.43 am and the last at 9.51 am. These calls and an e-mail claiming that the attack was carried out by HuJI have led investigators to believe that the attack could be linked to Kashmiri terrorists.
On Thursday afternoon, a second e-mail was received from chotoominani5 @gmail.com, saying it was not HuJI but the Indian Mujahideen that carried out the attack. The e-mail was signed by a “Chotoo Minani Ayushman”.
Investigators were, however, inclined to dismiss the e-mail. “The author of the mail could not even spell Mujahideen correctly, so we feel this is a prank. But we have got the password and we will trace the IP address soon,” an investigator said.
Meanwhile, the mail sent on Wednesday was traced to a cyber cafe in Kishtwar, Jammu, a region that has seen some support to the HuJI till a few years ago.
The Jammu & Kashmir police swooped in on the Global Cyber Cafe and picked up its owner, his brother and an employee. Police said that the owner had indicated that the mail cold have been sent by a student of a local college who had been frequenting the cafe for weeks. Thereafter, the police picked up two college students as a joint team of IB and NIA officials left for Jammu.
For all that, the NIA, which is leading the investigation with some reluctant help from the Delhi police, seemed to be clutching at straws. The terrorists had left behind very few clues and the few leads they had on Wednesday lead to dead ends. A Santro that was stolen in 2009 and believed to be the getaway vehicle for the terrorists was found abandoned in Faridabad.
What has surprised investigators was the use of PETN in the bomb. PETN is a powerful plastic explosive that is difficult to procure commercially. “This obviously is a major upgrade in the capabilities of the terrorist we are dealing with,” a senior intelligence official told DNA. In contrast, the Mumbai blasts had ammonium nitrate, an easily available chemical that can be extracted from fertilizers.
The NIA has so far detained eight suspects (Five in Kishtwar, 2 in UP, 1 in Srinagar) related to the bombing till Friday, 48 hours after the blast outside Delhi High Court.
Five detained in Kishtwar
Police in Kishtwar town of Jammu region had detained two cyber cafe owners, one of their employees and two customers over the e-mail sent by the Harkatul Jihad Islami (HUJI), taking responsibility for the blasts. All the five were later arrested and are being questioned
Srinagar resident detained
The Jammu and Kashmir Police has detained another man for questioning in connection with the Delhi High Court blast.
A senior police officer said Farooq Ahmad was detained immediately after his arrival in Srinagar on a GoAir flight from Delhi.
"He was detained for questioning as he had visited the Delhi High Court on Wednesday. Farooq, who is a resident of Qamarwari area, was detained at the airport after he got down from the flight," the officer said.
Two detained in Uttar Pradesh
Two people were detained in Uttar Pradesh on Friday in connection with the Delhi High Court blast.
"One person was detained in Varanasi and another in Bela village on the outskirts of Balrampur district, essentially on account of their resemblance with the sketch of suspects released by Delhi Police," said a top police officer.
The man detained at the Shivpur police station in Varanasi was identified as Lekhma Ram, a resident of Ajmer.
The one picked up in Balrampur was identified as Shehzad, a permanent resident of Bela village who had come home from Pune, he added.
"However, nothing incriminating has come out during the course of their questioning so far," he said.
(With inputs from PTI, IANS, DNA)
Delhi: A US national was deported on his arrival at the IGI Airport here in the wee hours of today after he was found to have allegedly violated visa norms during his previous visit to the country.