It could have been a bloody Monday in Delhi

It could have been a bloody Monday for Delhi had the four Jaish-e-Mohammad militants, who were planning multiple strikes at crowded markets, not been arrested from the national capital territory after a late-night encounter, police claimed.

The interrogation of the four -- three Kashmiris and a Pakistani national -- has revealed that they were planning to make three improvised explosive devices and plant them at busy markets before fleeing to Kolkata.

Shahid Gafoor, hailing from Sialkot district of Pakistan, was an expert in bomb-making and had been assigned to assemble the IEDs from the three kg of RDX brought by the Kashmiri militants, Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Karnal Singh said.

Interestingly, though police said the strikes were planned for Monday, they were unable to specify the markets. Police said Gafoor had arrived in the capital

early Sunday by Poorva Express from Kolkata, where he had reached after crossing the border from Bangladesh last month.

"He had received arms and ammunition training in Pakistan and is previously involved in two terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir, including an attack on a Rashtriya Rifles party in 2002," Singh added.

The investigation has also brought out startling details about terror links in Kolkata as the Kashmiri militants have confessed to have visited the eastern metropolis last month to deliver the US currency recovered from them to somebody.

"The three Kashmiri militants -- Bashir Ahmed Ponnu, Fayyaz Ahmed Lone and Abdul Majeed Baba -- had visited Kolkata in the last week of January. They were to receive Rs 20 lakh from someone in lieu of the $10,000 that we have recovered from them. But that meeting did not take place," he said.

Meanwhile, the four suspected militants have been remanded to 10 days police custody by a local court.