JOIN USDelhi HC blast: HuJI 'handler' arrested
The detention of Hafiz Amir, believed to belong to the Bangladesh-based terror group Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islamia (HuJI) and who allegedly lured the two boys to send the terror email, came eight days after the blast that left 14 dead.
Official sources said on Thursday that there was a possibility that Amir could be part of a larger conspiracy behind the terror strike. Amir, who has alleged links with a religious organisation, was picked up after detailed interrogation of the two boys, arrested on Wednesday, the sources said.
In the first arrests in connection with the email sent after the blast, the boys identified as Shariq Ahmed and Abid Hussain were picked up by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing the attack, and Jammu and Kashmir Police.
Amir reportedly told the investigators that an email claiming responsibility on behalf of HuJI was sent on his directions, the sources said.
He is alleged to have drafted the mail and then handed it over to the two boys with instructions that they needed to mail it to media houses immediately after they hear about the blasts in the national capital.
The two arrested youths, who were remanded to seven days police custody by the Principal District and Session judge on Wednesday, were on Thursday extensively questioned by the multi-member probe team.
They have been booked under IPC Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 134-A (attack on government servant on duty).
The two, who were accused of sending the terror email about an hour after the blast, also faced charges of hacking of computer system under section 66 of the Information Technology Act.
Delicately poised
In New Delhi National Investigation Agency (NIA) Director General S C Sinha on Thursday said that the probe into Delhi high court bomb blast “is delicately poised” .
“Publication and telecast of any information regarding the investigation will have an extremely adverse affect on the future course of investigation,” Sinha appealed to the meda in the North Block at a specially convened press conference addressed by the NIA chief here on Thursday night.
He said whatever has appeared in the media in case of investigation is speculative and “is denied”, after reports published in a daily about the two boys’ arrests.
Centre warns on attacks on buses
Maharashtra Police have received inputs from Central intelligence agencies about possibility of terror attacks on luxury buses plying between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, reports PTI from Mumbai.
“There are various intelligence inputs about possible terror strikes in the state. One of them is that the luxury buses running between Mumbai and Ahmedabad could be targeted. We have asked all the bus owners to be extra alert,” a top state police officer said.