The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

NEWS AND VIEWS

PUNJAB

HARYANA

JAMMU & KASHMIR

HIMACHAL

REGIONAL BRIEFS

NATION

OPINIONS

LETTERS

BUSINESS

SPORTS

WORLD

SPECIAL COVERAGE

CHANDIGARH

LUDHIANA

DELHI

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

M A I N N E W S

3 more held for Delhi blasts
IM behind Sankat Mochan Mandir blast in Varanasi
Sandeep Yadav
Tribune News Service

The seized laptop

The laptop belonging to Atif Bashir which was seized from the Jamia Nagar flat L-18 by Delhi police post-encounter, is coming in quite handy in the investigations. According to joint commissioner (Special Cell), Karnal Singh, the forensic team has found clips of the explosive bombs used in Ahmedabad blasts in the laptop. “The bombs used in Ahmedabad blasts were photographed by Atif and the stamp of ‘Indian Mujahideen- Ahmedabad” is clearly visible in the clips found in his laptop. This would be a solid evidence against the arrested in the court”, said Singh. He also revealed that a photograph of Mohammad Saif, currently in police custody, has a caption of ‘Most Wanted’ under a photograph of his found in the laptop.

New Delhi, September 21
After the interrogation of arrested terrorist Mohammad Saif and Zeeshan, Delhi police today said that the terror module of the Indian Mujahideen, led by Atif Bashir who was killed in an encounter on Friday, was also behind the March 6, 2006 twin blasts in Varanasi in which 20 people were killed. These revelations from Delhi police come a day after it claimed that the Atif and his gang were also behind the Ahmedabad, Jaipur and UP courts bomb blasts as well. Giving the information today, joint commissioner (Special Cell), Karnal Singh said that while Atif himself planted a bomb in the Gaudaulia area of Varanasi, Saif and Junaid planted a bomb at the waiting room of the railway station.

“Three bombs were planted in Varanasi, out of which one was defused. While the bomb at Sankat Mochan Hanuman Mandir was kept by Maleek; Atif and Saif along with other accomplices had planted bombs at Gaudaulia and the railway station”, said Singh.

Meanwhile, the Delhi police made three more arrests in connection with the September 13 blasts in the capital. The arrested have been identified as Shakeel, Shaqir and Zia-ur-Rehman, all three from Azamgarh (UP). With their arrest, the police now have five suspects in custody, while two had been shot dead in the encounter. According to the police, there were 13 people in all who were physically involved in the execution of the Delhi blasts. The police teams have fanned out in parts of the country looking for the other suspects involved.

The police said the Zia was the main person providing logistics support to the terrorist module. A student of Jamia Milia Islamia, Zia’s father is the caretaker of the L-18, 4th floor flat in Jamia Nagar where the suspects were cornered by the special cell of Delhi police. Zia is also accused of fabricating tenant verification papers of the flat. During the interrogation of the suspects, it was discovered that all the five suspects after planting the bombs in three markets assembled in the Jamia Nagar flat and jointly watched the news of the blasts on television.