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Investigators grope for clues to blast

New email claiming IM hand surfaces; death toll 13
Last Updated 08 September 2011, 19:09 IST

The death toll in the powerful explosion at reception area of the high court rose to 13 with relatives of the injured persons directing their ire at the politicians who visited Ram Manohar Lohia hospital where some of the grievously injured patients are undergoing treatment.

Eight of the injured are undergoing reconstructive surgery, seven are in a state of trauma and five others are in the intensive care unit.

After Wednesday’s blast, which is being suspected to have been set off by a remote controlled device, a team of National Investigating Agency (NIA) sleuths have traced the email reportedly sent by the Harkut-ul-Jehadi-Islami (HuJI) claiming that the terror outfit carried out the bomb attack to Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir.

After investigators found that the email was sent from a cyber cafe in Kishtwar, five persons were detained in Kashmir and are being interrogated by the police. Those detained include two owners of the cyber café, from whom investigators garnered some information about the physical appearance of email sender. “We are investigating the email link from Kishtwar in connection with the Delhi blast,” Jammu and Kashmir Director-General of Police Kuldeep Khoda said in Jammu.

Apart from those detained in J&K, investigators arrested and questioned a person in Patna. Police briefly detained a person in Uttar Pradesh’s Balrampur District, about 250 km from Lucknow, on Thursday following his resemblance to the sketch of one of the blast suspects.

An NIA team of investigators reached Lucknow on Thursday and visited the jail and quizzed some militants lodged there, sources said. The Anti-terrorist squad picked up one person from Shivpur area in Varanasi for questioning on Thursday evening. Sources declined to reveal the name but only said that the man was from Ajmer in Rajasthan.

A second email surfaced on Thursday, claiming that the Indian Mujahideen (IM), an indigenous group, carried out the terror strike.  The email’s author used chotoominani5@gmail.com ID and text says that the IM was behind the terror attack.

Written in Hindi, the email says the IM, parented by the Lashkar-e-Toiba in Pakistan, warns of another blast outside a mall on Tuesday.

“Investigation teams of the NIA are vigorously pursuing various leads with the cooperation of Delhi Police," Home Ministry Special Secretary (internal security) U K Bansal told reporters.

According to Bansal, forensics experts from Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh “have found some more material which may have relevance to the investigation,” indicating that no concrete evidence related to explosives used in the blast has been found.

However, Bansal said traces of a mixture of nitrate and PETN (pentaerythritol trinitrate) have been found, but that was not conclusive.

The NIA, struggling to get concrete clue has announced a reward of Rs.500,000 for anyone providing information about the suspects.

“The NIA has announced a reward of Rs.5 lakh for anyone giving any information to follow up the case. As far as investigation is concerned, it is going on. Delhi Police and NIA are coordinating,” Home Secretary R K Singh told reporters.

Anti-terrorism squads teams from states neighbouring Delhi reached here for discussions and consultations with the NIA and Delhi Police.

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(Published 08 September 2011, 10:27 IST)

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