Delhi Police holds ground, releases sketch of Hizbul terrorist

Delhi Police today released the sketch of a suspected Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist linked to a fidayeen attack plot, unfazed by controversy over arrest of an alleged operative four days ago from Indo-Nepal border in the case.

The sketch is that of a person who checked into a guest house in Old Delhi and left there an AK-56 and ammunition allegedly for Liyaqat Ali Shah, who was arrested on March 20.

Police had recovered arms and ammunition from the guest house following the interrogation of Shah and are trying to nab the person with the help of the sketch, a senior police official said.

"We had prepared the sketch on the basis of the CCTV footage and the description given by hotel staff," the official said.

The Special Cell of the Delhi Police has claimed that it had foiled a 'fidayeen (suicide) strike' in the capital with the arrest of Shah, who, they claimed, was a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist who planned attacks to avenge Afzal Guru's hanging.

Shah's arrest had sparked a controversy after Jammu and Kashmir government and police contradicted Delhi Police's version that he was coming to Delhi to coordinate terror strikes here during Holi.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police has supported the claims of Shah's family that he was a former militant who had surrendered before SSB at the Sanauli check-post on the Nepal border and was part of a group returning from Pakistan- occupied Kashmir (PoK )as part of the rehabilitation policy of the Jammu and Kashmir government.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had spoken to Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde seeking an NIA probe into the issue and said he was on his way to Jammu and Kashmir to surrender.

As an important confidence building measure, the state government had entered into an understanding with the Home Ministry that any youth who had joined militant ranks in 1990s and wishing to return via Nepal would be allowed to do so provided he surrenders before the army or police in the Valley.