The Delhi Police Special Cell has arrested a scientist in connection with the low-intensity blast in Rohini court on December 9 , said Commissioner of Police Rakesh Asthana on Saturday. The scientist, employed with the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization), apparently wanted to eliminate his neighbour, police said.
Mr. Asthana said that the accused has been identified as Bharat Bhushan Kataria (49). He committed the crime to take revenge on his neighbour, advocate Amit Vashistha, due to a protracted legal battle between the two.
Improvised explosive
The Commissioner said that after the blast in courtroom number 102, the case registered on charges of attempt to murder and under the Explosives Act was transferred to the Special Cell for investigation as the initial probe revealed the involvement of an improvised explosive.
“Given the gravity of the situation, Special Cell Northern Range started the investigation. The detection was more significant because a shootout took place inside Rohini court recently and this was the second incident, therefore, we took the security of court very seriously,” Mr Asthana said.
During the investigation, 1,000 cars that had entered the court premises were identified and their owners and drivers examined. Over 100 surveillance cameras in and around the complex and 1,000 hours of footage were examined to establish a sequence. “Based on the sequence, dump data analysis was carried out. All the hearings for the day in the said court and people attending them were examined along with those who came inside the room on the day,” Mr. Asthana said.
The crime scene and the IED (Improvised Explosive Device) were examined by both the Forensic Science Laboratory and National Security Guard. It was found that the materials used are easily available in the market.
The IED blast was triggered by the remote control used in vehicles, the police said. The bag used to place the IED was tracked to a medical equipment made by a multinational company and its distributors were examined. The IED was filled with screws and shrapnel. “During the blast, only the detonator went off. If the explosive would have blasted, then more harm would have been caused,” Mr. Asthana said.
Piecing together the evidence and leads from the examination, the police zeroed in on Kataria and questioned him on Friday after which he was arrested. “During his house search, several file covers, identical to those present in the IED Bag, similar screws that were used as shrapnel in the IED, [and] remnants of the black adhesive tape used in fabricating the IED have been recovered,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Rajeev Ranjan Singh.
As per the police, the CCTV footage showed Mr. Kataria entering the court complex at 9:33 a.m. with a bag in his hand and a laptop bag on his back. He then left the bags at a place inside the court and exited from another gate and entered the premises again from another one. He finally left in a hurry at 10:35 a.m. from Gate number 8 with only the laptop bag on his back.
Further probe revealed that Mr. Kataria and Mr. Vashistha were living in the same building till about 3 years ago. The police said they had a long-standing dispute of over 10 years and had filed over a dozen civil and criminal cases against each other. One such case against Mr. Kataria was listed on December 9 in courtroom 102 for arguments.
According to the police, Mr. Kataria went inside the courtroom at about 10:15 a.m. and placed a bag containing the explosive device behind Mr. Vashistha, who was sitting in the back row, after which he triggered the IED from a safe distance with a remote.
The police said that Mr. Kataria planted the IED to eliminate Mr. Vashistha “as he was highly frustrated due to the protracted legal battles which were causing problems in his career as well as prolonged mental harassment and monetary loss to him and his family”.
