Delhi High Court Blast: IM imprint in terror mail, but cops slip on tip-off

NEW DELHI: Three weeks before Black Wednesday, intelligence agencies had sent an input to Delhi Police and other states, stating that “foreign terrorists, mostly Pakistanis had entered the country and would try to enter the capital”.

Home Minister P Chidambaram also said “Delhi Police had been alerted on July 27”. Sources in the police say “there was speculation in the police brass for past many days that terrorists may strike ahead of the Batla House encounter anniversary, which is September 19”.

Caught unawares, police have now launched a massive manhunt for the bomber. They are scouring the city for a grey Hyundai car, with a Delhi registration number, in which some eyewitnesses said a person wearing a white shirt fled from near Delhi High Court.

Police sources say shooting of the terror email after the blast suggests it could also be the handiwork of Indian Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba. And Bangladesh-based HuJI, which shot the email, is also backed by the same Pakbased jihadi outfits.

Investigators have traced the email from Mumbai and a team is being sent there. Though, HuJI claimed responsibility for the blast, demanding repeal of Afzal Guru’s sentence, some investigators believe it could have been also done by some other group to mislead investigations.

In the email, sent from email ID – to a TV channel, it was mentioned that “we owe responsibility of today’s blast at high court Delhi ..... Our demand is that Afzal Guru’s death sentence should be repealed immediately else we would target major high courts and Supreme Court of India”.

A police officer said, “There is a possibility that Indian Mujahideen has made an improvised bomb and has used HuJI’s name”. He also said HuJI usually does not send emails after the blast.

“Also, in this mail, the sender has signed off as Harkat-ul-Jihadi. “The acronym has not been spelled out in full. This makes it even more suspicious. Also, HuJI packs RDX in bombs, and not PETN. But we are looking into their role,” a police offier said.

Home Minister P Chidambaram said “Intelligence agencies constantly share intelligence inputs with Delhi Police. Inpus pertaining to threats emanating from certain groups were shared with Delhi Police in July.”