Even as investigations into the Delhi High Court blast are under way in different parts of the country, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday raised the reward money for information about those behind the terror strike from Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh.
The probe into two of the emails sent from West Bengal through a mobile phone in the name of the Indian Mujahideen has led the trail to a young man.
Though the man is being questioned, the investigators would explore if the person, who created the email and sent it from Internet account chotoominani5@gmail.com, had used a cloned SIM card to evade detection. Claiming responsibility for the blast, the sender identifying himself as Indian Mujahideen member Chotoo Minani Ayushman had threatened to target a shopping complex.
“A young man named Manu Oza has already been arrested at Patan in Gujarat for having sent the third mail in the name of the Indian Mujahideen through Internet account kill.india@yahoo.com, wherein he had given a numerical code deciphered as Ahmedabad as the next target.
“Since it turned out to be a hoax, the fourth mail in which the sender claimed that the third mail was indeed from the same outfit and again threatened to target a crowded place in Ahmedabad, should also be a hoax. Since the second mail had also been sent from the same ID, its authenticity is also questionable,” said a police officer.
The probe into the first email purportedly sent by Harkat-ul-Jihadi, which was traced to a cyber cafe at Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir, is still under way.
The NIA, which initially faced problems in coordination with the police in various States, has been able to gather some leads with their assistance. However, a major breakthrough still eludes the investigators.
A large number of people have so far been questioned for clues into the blast that claimed 13 lives and left over 75 injured.
Man held in Howrah hospital
Staff Reporter reports from Kolkata:
The police on Tuesday arrested a man from the Bagnan rural hospital in West Bengal's Howrah district in connection with the Delhi High Court blast.
According to the police, his injuries resemble those caused by a bomb blast.
The arrest of Afzal Taiyyab was made “following certain inputs.”
“His statements were incoherent and a suo motu case has been registered against him. We suspect he has had a role in the blast or in sending a terror mail,” said a senior Howrah district police official.
Meanwhile, the Special Task Force of the city police traced a hoax terror mail circulating in the city since late Monday to a group of school students in the Topsia area.
“Some schoolchildren tried to play a prank, circulating the mail which threatened explosions in city shopping malls. Since the offenders were juvenile, they were warned and their parents asked to give an undertaking to the police,” said STF chief Rajiv Kumar.
Security was stepped up, nonetheless, at all shopping malls and in market areas.
“We are requesting people not to panic. All senior police officials are regularly supervising the security arrangements in the crowded shopping areas. The police have already chalked out crowd control measures for Durga Puja. We will continue carrying out regular checks and cross-checks,” said Commissioner of Police R.K. Pachnanda.
