17 February,2010 08:36 AM IST | | Prawesh Lama
The police and Intelligence Bureau are also checking cell phone records
The room service usually expects good tips from foreign guests, but Stephen Hampston and Steven Martin were different. So different, in fact, that the Radisson Hotel staff had to report to the police about their "suspicious activities".
The two British national, who were detained for questioning by the Delhi Police on Monday evening, were lodged in the room number 400 and had given strict "don't disturb" instructions to the room service.
The security officials swooped upon the hotel after they were tipped off about the two 'suspects' in the wake of heightened alert due to Pune blast.
Though they were let off after questioning and were allowed to return to the hotel, the police have seized their laptop and mobile phones and checking them for any leads.
Several sophisticated gadgets were seized from the duo's possession, including an equipment that can be attached to an antennae and can be used to monitor air traffic and capture details of any aircraft in the airspace at that time.
They also had Google maps of the nearby Indira Gandhi International Airport, binoculars and cameras. They told the police that they used the gadgets for aeroplane spotting which they pursued as a hobby.
Hampston and Martin had checked into the hotel on February 13.
"We are checking their laptop to see if they had gathered some data and whether they forwarded it to somebody by e-mail. We are also verifying cell phone records," said a police official.
The two are also believed to have recorded the conversations between the pilot and the air traffic control.
During the day, the two were jointly interrogated by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police and the Intelligence Bureau.
The police have not given them a clean chit as yet. Rajan Bhagat, Delhi Police Public Relations Officer said, "We are not holding them and allowed them to stay in the hotel only. The investigation is still on and it will be too early to say anything."
