Strong links are emerging indicating towards the involvement of the Indian Mujahidden (IM) in Sunday’s shooting incident near Jama Masjid on the second anniversary of the Batla House encounter.
Government sources disclosed that the first indication has come from the fact that the "timer’’ device fitted in the incendiary bomb found in a parked car was timed at 11.30 am — the same time of the Batla House encounter two years ago in which two IM terrorists identified as Atif Amin and Mohammad Sajid were killed. Sources said that more than a dozen IM terrorists are on the run, including Shahnawaz, Mohishin, Iqbal and Riyaz Bhatkal with some believed to be hiding in Pakistan. "We don’t know whether some of them are having a free run within the country," a security official said.
The Centre is adopting a cautious approach in declaring a "terror angle’’ to Sunday’s incident keeping in view the sensitivity ahead of the court verdict in the Ayodhya case and the fast approaching Commonwealth Games.
While teams of intelligence and investigating officers have fanned out across states, including Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, to follow up the leads, the home ministry has asked the Delhi police to begin strict checks on "two wheelers’’ in the national capital by carrying out random checks in a phased manner. The agencies have also traced the email, sent by the IM claiming responsibility for Sunday’s incident to Mumbai.
While the server has been located to Mumbai, no further leads have emerged so far into the identity of the person who may have sent the email. The sources said that the person who has written the email seems well-versed with technology. Sources said that no detonator was found in the inflammable material found in the parked car indicating an intention on the part of the terror outfit to create panic and unnerve the police. "Whether the firing incident near Jama Masjid and the incindiary bomb found in the parked car are related we don’t know so far, but it is too close a coincidence," a senior government official said. Preliminary discussions between the Union home ministry and the Delhi police are focusing on unravelling the role and motive of the outfit in Sunday’s incident.
Intelligence sources said, "Initial probe by the investigating agencies indicate IM’s hand behind the incident. Investigating officials have also questioned some IM militants who had been arrested in connection with Delhi, Jaipur and Ahmedabad blasts". Investigating officials are also planning to question Salman and Shazad, both suspected IM militants, arrested in connection with Delhi serial blasts. Their questioning may provide certain clues to the probing agencies, sources added.
Sources further said, "The ATS of Gujarat and Rajasthan have also intensified their drive to identify the active sleeper modules of IM in their respective states. Officials are also trying to find out the whereabouts of Mohsin Chaudhary, top IM operative of the west zone and wanted in connection with Ahmedabad and Pune blasts".
Security agencies are also collecting details about other 10 absconding IM militants — involved in Delhi, Ahmedabad and Jaipur serial blasts — in connection with the Jama Masjid shooting case.