M A I N   N E W S

Sleuths sent to Haryana, UP
HC had pulled up Centre on Red Fort
From Syed Ali Ahmed

NEW DELHI, Dec 25 — More than 72 hours after the attack on the Red Fort, both the Army and the Delhi Police are groping in the dark and still searching for vital clues which could result in a breakthrough.

Sleuths of the Special Cell, which specialises in handling terrorism cases, have been sent to neighbouring states, including Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Highly placed police sources told this correspondent that teams had been sent to Mewat and Naoh in Haryana, some areas in Jammu and Kashmir, four places in Uttar Pradesh including Pilakhua, which is known to be a militant hideout and for clandestine manufacture of arms and explosives, and Bharatpur in Rajasthan.

The 55,000-strong Delhi Police, which has sounded red alert in the Capital, fanned out across the city and carried out intensive search operations and checked all incoming and outgoing vehicles to the Capital.

A house-to-house check was carried out especially at the Sanjay Gandhi Amar Colony slum cluster, which is a stone’s throw from the historic 17th-century fort.

The slum cluster is located on the banks of the Yamuna and adjacent to Vijay Ghat from where the police had seized the assault rifle AK-47 allegedly used by the Lashkar-e-Toiba militants.

The police believe the militants might have slipped into this slum cluster under cover of darkness. They are hopeful that some vital clues could be secured during the search operation.

In fact, the dog squad, which was pressed into service on the day of the incident, went on a trail up to the path leading to the slum cluster indicating that the militants might have mingled with the locals after abandoning their weapon of offence.

The police raided the house of a Delhi-based hawala operator, suspected to be having links with the Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan, sources said.

The hawala operator has been missing since the day of the sensational Friday incident.

The police, which maintained a strict vigil in the “sensitive” areas of the Capital, continued to raid various suspected hideouts of Kashmiri militants.

This is being seen as an effort of the police not only to gather clues about the militants involved in the Red Fort but also prevent any untoward incident during the Christmas festivity and the forthcoming New Year celebrations.

Meanwhile, the issue of multiple management of the Red Fort where militants struck last week, killing three persons, including two Army personnel, has been pending in the Delhi High Court for about two years, which recently had expressed grave concern over the Centre’s failure to take a firm decision about the control and maintenance of the monument.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Arijit Passayat and Mr Justice D.K. Jain had pulled up the Centre for taking the matter lightly despite repeated reminders for making its stand clear on the issue.

The matter was brought before the high court in a public interest litigation (PIL) by the Society for the Protection of Heritage and Culture (SPHC) which said multiple control of the fort by different agencies was mainly responsible for its “poor maintenance and deteriorating condition”.

The SPHC had sought removal of all occupants, including the Army and shopkeepers from Meena Bazar inside the fort and handing over control to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) so that it could be maintained as a monument of great national importance.

Claiming that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974 had recommended removal of the Army from the fort, SPHC counsel Usha Kumar said former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma had in July 1998 directed the MCD to remove the shops from inside the fort.

While Additional Solicitor-General K.K. Sud informed the Bench that the government had set up a committee to coordinate between the ministries concerned, the court said it was aware how things moved in government departments.