Three weeks after the attempt on the life of an Israeli diplomat in the high-security Tughlak Road area here, the police made a breakthrough in the case by arresting a freelance journalist, Syed Mohammed Ahmad Kazmi, at Lodhi Road in South Delhi.
Kazmi was allegedly a part of an international conspiracy to bomb the Israeli Embassy car in which the diplomat was travelling.
The police are on the lookout for three more suspected members of a module that extended logistic support to the prime suspect, a foreign national, who attached an improvised explosive magnetic device on the car on February 13. He is believed to have fled the country soon after the attack. The motorcycle used by him has been recovered.
Kazmi (52), a resident of Jor Bagh who works for an Iranian radio, was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav at Tis Hazari on Wednesday. He was remanded him in police custody for 20 days.
The police submitted that Kazmi was part of a conspiracy hatched outside India and the role of foreign nationals could not be ruled out.
Mohammad Asgar said his uncle Kazmi worked for Doordarshan for about a decade and during that period he covered the Iran-Iraq war. “He has also worked for a U.K.-based prominent news channel. He was presently working for an Iranian radio service,” said Mr. Asgar adding that his uncle was also associated with the India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC).
Kazmi was coming out of the IICC when he was picked by the police on Tuesday. During interrogation, the police claimed, he disclosed that he was privy to the conspiracy to target Israeli diplomats.
The police suspect that the idea to target Israeli officials started taking shape in the early part of 2011 and Kazmi was subsequently roped in. The foreign trips made by him in the recent past, particularly to Iran, are under scrutiny.
The police have seized his passport, two mobile phones, a laptop, two central processing units, $ 1,250, a car, a scooterette and a motorcycle.
Investigations have revealed that Kazmi had a role in conducting reconnaissance of the area surrounding the Israeli Embassy. The foreign national, who carried out the bombing, visited India at least twice before the attack.
“From where the raw material for the explosive device was procured and where it was assembled is yet to be ascertained. At this stage, we have not come across any evidence suggesting involvement of any particular [international] organisation. It has not yet been established that the Delhi, Georgia and Bangkok incidents were the handiwork of the same group,” said an officer.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs said: “No conclusions can be drawn while investigations are on.”
