Clueless Investigation - Delhi Bomb Blast

After two days of terror struck at the heart of Delhi, investigating agencies are still groping in the dark for conclusive leads even as a spate of mails now hampers the probe.

Gujarat has been put on a high alert after a third e-mail warned that Ahmedabad will be the next terror target.

On Friday evening a fourth e-mail surfaced from a person named Chhotu Minani, claiming to be written on behalf of the Indian Mujhaideen. It claimed that the third email to Delhi Police was also sent by them and that Ahmedabad will be attacked in a way that police will not be able to find evidence.

While victims of Delhi High Court blast struggle to get back to their lives, the political blame game has started. Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and Home Minister P Chidambaram indulged in a war of words over the blast on Friday.

Chidambaram rubbished reports that he has been heckled while he visited the victims at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. "If I have been heckled, I would not have complained. But Mr Jaitley has been out of office for too long to know how people would react to such situation," said Chidambaram.

Jaitley on the other hand blamed Chidambaram for failing to stop the terror attacks. "Rather then making it a partisan issue, Mr Chidambaram should be seriously concerned with the fact that in cases after cases either there is no prior intelligence coming or the cases are going unresolved. I don't see the sense of anger and urgency in him in order to achieve this," said Jaitley.

The Home Minister also defended the security persons.
"The average policeman stands on his feet for 14 hours a day. The average policeman doesn't get off for three weeks at a stretch," said Chidambaram.

The Home Minister insisted the Government is doing its best, but for the investigators the clues have became even harder to come by. The forensic report from four different labs could only agree that some nitrate based substance was used for the blast, but there is no clarity on the exact compound.

In desperation, the reward money for any input on Delhi blast has been raised to Rs 10 lakh from Rs 5 lakh.

Even as the major cities in India are on high alert, Delhi Police received a coded e-mail allegedly from an Indian Mujhaideen operative. The e-mail warned in a numeric code 1,8,5,13,4,1,2,1,4 as the next terror target, which was deciphered to mean Ahmedabad.
Not taking any chances, the Home Ministry immediately put the entire Gujarat, particularly Ahmbedabad, on high alert.

"The e-mail states that it will be a cruel attack and will be remembered for ten years. We are taking the e-mail very seriously, but its authenticity is yet to be established. That mail, for sure, has not been generated from Ahmedabad," said Sudhir Sinha, Commissioner of Police, Ahmedabad City.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Police tracked down the boy who sent the September 7 e-mail on behalf of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI). Sources said nothing concrete could be recovered from him.

The September 9 e-mail of the Indian Mujhideen was traced to West Bengal, while the proxy server for the third one was traced to Moscow.

More e-mails and detention of more suspects on the third day get no closure to finding the real culprits. Chidambaram may hit out at critics and also assured that the NIA does have some positive leads, which could translate into some evidence in next few days, but as the Opposition ups the ante, it will be difficult for the Government to defend itself unless the NIA can crack the case soon.

Posted in: General