Hamza is reportedly the person who shot at Prof M C Puri at the seminar of scientists at IISc on December 29, 2005.
According to sources, City police are convinced Hamza is their man. “We are in the process of putting together the evidence we have collected. Once that’s done, we will produce our case and get a non bailable warrant against him,” said the source.
For a red-corner notice by Interpol, the probe agency has to produce clinching evidence before the court to obtain a non-bailable warrant. They then contact the nodal officer for Interpol in the State, who forwards it to Delhi. It is the CBI which sends it to the Interpol. In Karnataka, the IGP (CoD) is the nodal officer for red corner notice.
The evidence given by Sabauddin, the alleged LeT terrorist arrested in Lucknow recently, and Raziuddin Naser, another LeT militant held in Honnali, have further strengthened the case against Hamza. Both Saba and Naser were tutored by Hamza, who according to them, is now in PoK.
Saba had confessed in 2005 he was instructed by LeT commander Abu Zaddah to collect arms from Kashmir and pick up Hamza from Kathmandu. Saba followed the instruction and brought back with him Hamza and an AK47, three magazines and four grenades. Naser and Saba have given elaborate description of Hamza based on which the City police have drawn sketches. “Both sketches are more or less the same,” said the officer.
Hamza is a fidayeen and is trained in suicide bombing. “He was prepared to die in the IISc attack and had even hurled a grenade. Unfortunately, it didn’t explode and he escaped,” said the source.
Joint Commissioner (Crime) Gopal B Hosur, who has been tracking the case said that he was always convinced that the assailant was a Pakistani and an LeT member. “The modus operandi of the LeT and Jaish is different from the Bangladesh-based terrorist outfit HuJI” he said.