The Delhi Police Special Cell has arrested four students from Ladakh in connection with the Israel embassy blast case, police said on Thursday.
They were arrested from Kargil and taken to Delhi on transit remand, they said.
The four students were identified as Nazir Hussain (26), Zulfikar Ali Wazir (25), Aiaz Hussain (28) and Muzammil Hussain (25). All of them are residents of Thang village in Kargil district, Ladakh.
ADVERTISEMENT
The minor IED blast took place outside the Embassy of Israel in the heart of Lutyens' Delhi on January 29. There were no casualties.
In an official statement, Delhi Police PRO Chinmoy Biswal said the Special Cell of Delhi Police, in a joint operation with a Central intelligence agency and Kargil police, detained four persons from Kargil in connection with a conspiracy execute terror activities in the national capital.
“They have been taken on remand and brought to Delhi for questioning,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
A team of Intelligence Bureau has reached the office of the Special Cell to question them. Police said an investigation was underway to ascertain their role in the incident.
“It was found that all four of them stayed at a rented accommodation near Delhi University area. On the day of blast, their mobile phones were switched off. After a few days, they vacated the accommodation all of sudden and moved to Ladakh. We are finding out other locations where they stayed in Delhi,” said a police officer.
Delhi Police's Special Cell which was probing the incident had registered a case of “conspiracy”.
In the course of its investigation, over 100 CCTV footages in and around the embassy were scanned by the police team. In one such footage, the Delhi Police's Special Cell spotted two men walking on the pavement before the blast. Both had their faces covered and one of them wearing a jacket was spotted carrying a bag with him, police said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs handed over the probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on February 2.
Recently, the NIA announced a reward of ₹10 lakh each to anyone who could identify the two people captured on CCTV camera.
Some cars were damaged in the explosion that occurred about 150 metres from the embassy on the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Road in the very high-security Lutyens' bungalow zone.