'Kazmi arrested in embassy car blast case to appease Israel'

Sayed Mohammed Ahmed Kazmi’s family members and social activists on Saturday said the 52-year-old freelance journalist was falsely implicated by the Delhi Police over intelligence provided by Israeli agencies.

Kazmi’s youngest son, Sohrab reiterated that the police have no evidence against his father.

“They are fabricating evidence to prove him guilty. He is being mentally harassed and we are not allowed to meet him,” Sohrab said, adding the entire family see Kazmi’s arrest as a move to “appease” Israel.

Advocate N D Pancholi added that the special cell of Delhi Police has falsely implicated Kazmi due to his professional link with Iran.

As the case is sensitive and involves foreign countries, the government should either hand over the case to the National  Investigation Agency or Central Bureau of Investigation.

“The special cell has a track record of fabricating evidence and in this case Kazmi is being made the scapegoat by Delhi Police,” Pancholi said.

Further showing concern over reports that officials of Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, have arrived in the national capital to interrogate Kazmi, they condemned it and demanded that no foreign agency should be permitted to interrogate any Indian national.

One of the investigating officers of the case said Kazmi was arrested after his number was traced in the mobile phone of Saeid Moradi, who was the alleged bomber in the failed terrorist attack in Bangkok, Thailand, on February 14.

Police are currently trying to link the blast in Delhi to the failed terror attempts in Bangkok and Georgia, where Israeli diplomats were targeted.

The possibility of Iran attempting to attack Israeli targets around the world, in retaliation to the assassination of four Iranian nuclear scientists, is being probed.

Meanwhile, a statement signed by filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, writer-activist Arundhati Roy, historian K N Panikkar and actress Nandita Das and Sharmila Tagore said they fear Kazmi may be made a scapegoat to please an international lobby.