Hole story of High Court blast

Here is a picture of the crater created by the powerful explosion outside gate no. 5 of the court on September 7.

Hole story of High Court blast

Here is a picture of the crater created by the powerful explosion outside gate no. 5 of the court on September 7.

The four-feet-deep pit created by the bomb blast outside Delhi High Court on Wednesday, which claimed 13 lives and injured more than 70 others, speaks volumes about the success of the culprits and the frailties of our security apparatus. Analysts say that the incident should be an eye-opener for both intelligence agencies and Delhi police considering that the assailants managed to procure explosives of this nature in the city with the agencies caught napping.

Pit stop: The police allowed the press to take pictures of the blast spot
(encircled) for the first time on Monday after collecting evidence from
the site. PIC/Rajeev Tyagi

While one side of the investigations is concentrating on nabbing the culprits on the basis of the fresh sketches which have been prepared by the National Investigation Agency, NIA, the other side would focus on the route and the carrier via which the explosives were sneaked into the Capital.

Let there be light: Lawyers lighting candles to pay homage to blast
victims, in front of Delhi High Court's gate no. 5 on Monday.
PIC/Rajeev Tyagi

En route
"We suspect that the explosives were brought-in via Bangladesh, even though we have kept all angles open. We are trying to identify the supplier and the carrier," sources said. It has already been established, and the government has also confirmed, that RDX and PETN were used in the blast. The quantity which was said to be around three kilograms is also something, which the security agencies should look into.

"You can gauge the nature of explosives used by looking at the pit which has been created at the site. We will also examine the crater once our teams who are on a wild trail to nab the culprits come to a conclusion," sources said. They also said that investigators are concentrating on the absconding Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists belonging to the module which was busted during the Batla House encounter.

Fresh start
"We have started making fresh searches for them," sources said. Meanwhile, two men considered close to surrendered militants were detained in Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir from where an email purportedly sent by HuJi claiming responsibility was sent. The number of people detained for questioning rose to 11 after Sadiq Ahmed and Abid Hussain, considered close to former militants Irshad Ahmed and Farooq Ahmed were picked up.

The two former militants have already been detained. Investigators probing the blast were tracing the email sent from Kishtwar and believed that the other three emails claiming responsibility for last Wednesday's terror attack, including the one purportedly sent by the Indian Mujahideen (IM), were pranks. "Two close persons of surrendered militants have been picked up. They are under sustained interrogation after zeroing in on them," a senior police officer said. The purported HuJI email has been sent from Kishtwar itself and that is confirmed, he added.

Feeling victimised
In the wake of some Kashmiris being detained in other states for questioning over the Delhi High Court blast, the Jammu and Kashmir government Monday sent letters to many state police chiefs in the country urging them not to detain Kashmiris on suspicion without informing the authorities here.

Under scanner
Around 50 people from Kishtwar town, mostly students, have so far been questioned in connection with the Bangladesh-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-Islami(HuJI) email claiming responsibility for the blast.
Official sources said investigators have brought the hard disks of the computers of the cyber cafe in Kishtwar to Delhi for forensic examination to find out whether the set time of any one of the computers was changed before sending the email.