Author: Dalip Singh
Publication: India Today
Date: September 10, 2011
URL: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/pakistan-terror-link-to-delhi-high-court-blast-mail/1/150749.html
The security agencies probing Wednesday's
blast at the Delhi High Court have found evidence which point to the involvement
of elements from across the border in the dastardly attack that killed 13
persons.
A college student, Shoaib Ahmad Sheikh, who
had sent the first email claiming responsibility for the attack, has reportedly
confessed to the investigators that he got the orders to send the mail from
"across the border". Sheikh had sent the mail from a cyber café
in Kishtwar, Jammu on Wednesday, to a media house, hours after the attack
from email address: harkatuljihadi2011@ gmail. com.
He was identified on the basis of the physical
description given by the owner of the Global Cyber Cafe, from where the mail
had been sent. A team of NIA, forensic experts from Hyderabad and Jammu police
is interrogating the first year college student from Kishtwar. Sources said
Sheikh has told the interrogators that he was ordered to send the mail after
the high intensity blast. Though the blast took place at 10.14 am, the terror
mail claiming responsibility landed up on television channel offices at 1.14
pm.
Sources confirmed that the teenager has confessed
before the interrogating team that he was told by "people from across
the border" that he should wait for a newsbreak or an intimation of the
blast and then send the mail to television channels. This suggests that the
author of the mail did not know about the intended target and timing of the
blast - which is part of terrorists' modus operandi where cells operate on
the need to know basis.
Sources also said Sheikh had received two
international calls on his mobile phone on the day of the blast, one from
Pakistan and another from Saudi Arabia. However, the investigators are trying
to find out why did he take so much time in sending the email? The mail merely
named Harkatul Jehadi, but the investigation and intelligence agencies are
interpreting it as the brainchild of Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI) - the
first Pakistan- based terror outfit raised by Fazalur Rehman Khalil. It, however,
disintegrated into various other groups, including the one that operated out
of Bangladesh. Pakistan- based HuJI's operational commander Ilyas Kashmiri
is said to have been killed in a US drone attack on June 4, 2010.
At the press conference on Friday, Union home
minister P. Chidambaram too did not rule out cross- border links to the blast.
He, however, said every organisation will
only be a suspect until the investigation agencies get evidence to nail the
perpetrator of terror strike, the second at Delhi High Court since May.
While claiming "promising leads"
into the blast probe, Chidambaram also said that help of foreign security
agencies were also being taken to get to the bottom of the terror strike.
Post Wednesday attack, the television channels
and police are being flooded with emails claiming responsibility of the blasts.
So far, four terror mails have come up. Out of them, one has used the identity
of Harkatul Jehadi, while the remaining are attributed to home- grown terror
outfit - Indian Mujahideen (IM).
Sources interpret the remaining three mails
as an attempt either to mislead investigators and create an impression that
it has not been orchestrated from across the border or they could be just
pranks.
The latest mail has been again sent by a person
named 'Chottoo' who claims to be a member of the IM. The previous mail - written
under the assumed name of 'Ali Saed El Hoorie' of the IM - was sent to the
official email address of the Delhi Police: delpol@ nic. in on Thursday.
