The Hindu : New Delhi News : Police find crucial evidence in Delhi serial blasts case

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Monday, Nov 03, 2008
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Police find crucial evidence in Delhi serial blasts case

Devesh K. Pandey

Recovered videos also throw light on Ahmedabad explosions

Firearms, laptops, mobiles, fake documents recovered from hide-outs, say Delhi police
Presentations found in mobiles and laptops on the post-Godhra riots; Al-Qaeda video films found

NEW DELHI: Investigations into the Delhi serial bomb blasts this past September have thrown up crucial material and circumstantial evidence against those arrested in the cases so far, claim the Delhi police.

The breakthrough came on September 19 when the Special Cell found out that suspected Indian Mujahideen militants were hiding at Batla House in South Delhi. In the encounter that followed, two suspected terrorists, Atif and Sajid, were gunned down and Mohammad Saif was arrested.

According to the police, firearms and bomb assembling materials like wire and tapes were recovered from the “hide-out” of the suspected militants. Similar items had been used to assemble the unexploded bombs that were recovered after the September 13 blasts, they said. The seized articles have been sent for forensic examination.

Besides, the police also purportedly seized forged identification documents that were later found to have been used by the suspected militants for booking train tickets and staying in hotels.

The police seized ten mobile phones and two laptops that allegedly contained video clips and photographs including those related to the Ahmedabad serial explosions in July. As per police findings, they show militants assembling the improvised explosive devices and a clip shows all the bombs kept in one place while others show the militants planting bombs.

The police purportedly also found presentations in the mobile phones and the laptops on the post-Godhra riots, Al-Qaeda video films and songs inciting people to take up arms.

Another major circumstantial evidence, according to the police, is the location of the mobile phones of the accused on relevant dates in Jaipur, Ahmedabad and then in Delhi. As per the purported disclosures, they were supposed to trigger explosions in Ahmedabad on July 19, but due to delay in getting the explosives they postponed the plan to July 26.

The police have obtained the reservation charts bearing fake names of the accused showing they had gone to Ahmedabad on July 11 for conducting reconnaissance. They then returned on July 13. Investigations revealed that the fake names and those used in the seized identification proofs were the same, the police said.

Further, the police have seized a fake identification document in the name of Rahul Sharma that was used purportedly by Saif. He allegedly also used it during his visit to Manipal in Karnataka to receive the explosive for use in Delhi blasts and for stay in a hotel there. According to the police, the hotel manager has identified him.

A strong evidence against one of the suspected militants, Mohammad Shakeel, is that on the day of the blasts in Delhi on September 13 the footage of the closed-circuit television camera installed at the Jhandewalan metro railway station shows him boarding a train in the evening (after he allegedly planted a bomb near Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh).

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