Delhi blast: Toll 13; agencies probe J&K link

Investigators on Thursday detained five people, including a cyber cafe owner in Jammu and Kashmir, and questioned another hailing from Bihar as they looked for definite leads into the briefcase bomb blast outside Delhi high court on Wednesday.

The Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami had claimed responsibility for Wednesday's terror attack. But the Indian Mujahideen, in an email purportedly sent by the group to media houses, made a similar claim, perplexing probe agencies which did not rule out a prank. IM claimed HuJI had no role to play in the blast.

Investigators traced Wednesday's email of Bangladesh-based terror outfit HuJI to a cyber cafe in Kishtwar in Kashmir. They have detained its owner Mehmood Khawja, his brother Majid, their domestic help Ashwani and two others for questioning.

The death toll in the blast that ripped through the reception complex at the high court rose to 13 on Thursday night.

Pramod Kumar, 40, a resident of west Delhi's Hari Nagar, breathed his last around 3 am, while P Patra, 58, a resident of South Delhi's Lodhi Colony, died at 8.30 pm at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, police officials said.

Authorities have decided to beef up security at the Delhi high court by installing 49 more CCTV cameras, besides the existing 21, at various strategic locations in and around the court premises within three weeks.

"We are investigating the email link from Kishtwar district in connection with the Delhi blast," J&K Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda said in Jammu.

The mail from IM was purportedly written by 'Chotoo' and sent from chotoominani5@gmail.com. The mail was received by media houses at 12:37 pm on Thursday.

"We are examining the email received by media houses, its authenticity and veracity, and (we are) taking it seriously," said Secretary (internal security) in the Home Ministry U K Bansal.

Bansal also said that some information indicating a Kashmir link with Wednesday's HuJI mail is being pursued with the help of J&K police.

Security agencies including the National Investigation Agency are also looking into the IM email. But most investigators doubt if the mail was genuine.

NIA also announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for anyone who will provide clues to the blast. A man from Patna, who was arrested on charges of using a stolen ATM card, is being interrogated by the joint team led by NIA in connection with the blast probe.

Another person was detained at the Srinagar airport on his return from New Delhi following an input received from a defence intelligence agency about a conversation he had made on September 5.

Farooq Ahmad had spoken to his brother in the national capital and stated that the work would be done by 11 am on September 7. He had said that he was reaching on September 6 and returning on September 8 after finishing the work, official sources said.

They said the conversation was picked up by a defence intelligence agency, which informed the central security agencies about it after the Delhi blast.

With inputs from Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar