HuJi satphone was abuzz on blast day

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In what is being viewed as a significant movement forward for investigations into the 13/2 bomb attack on an Israeli diplomat, intelligence agencies are concentrating on two particular phone calls that were made to a cellphone in the Capital.

While one of the calls was made on the day of the incident, on Februa-ry 13, the second call was made on February 5. Inte-restingly, both are incoming calls suspected to have been made using a satellite phone from the Cox’s Bazaar area in Bangladesh.

Importantly, highly placed intelligence sources said that this particular cellphone has been switched off since the evening of February 13. The cell tower location of the call made on February 13, at around 4 pm, was coming from the Jaffarpur Kalan area in Outer Delhi while the February 5 call’s location was in Seelampur area in North-East Delhi.

Investigating agencies also conducted night-long raids in the two localities.

Since the day of the incident, intelligence agencies have been sifting through a complex web of incoming and outgoing “suspicious ISD calls”.

Sources said, that the satellite number, from which the two calls originated belongs to a HuJI operative who has been on the radar of the intelligence agencies for sometime now. The suspect plays the role of a co-ordinator between various terror outfits like HuJI, Lashkar and the Indian Mujahideen.

Importantly, with this particular development coming to light, the investigating agencies are almost certain that the attack has been carried out by a local terror outfit. “There is a strong possibility that the attack has been masterminded by the Lashkar usi-ng local logistical support of the IM which importantly has absorbed the cadre of banned SIMI,’’ a top intelligence official said.

What made the intelligence agencies suspicious was the fact that in every terror operation, the operatives receive only incoming ISD calls on their mobile. The call was then made minutes after the attack. During the scanning of call details, the intelligence ag-encies realized that while the cellphone had been operational from February 1, it received only two calls from a “suspicious number’’ following which it was switched off.

Officials are also of the view that the module which carried out the entire operation was still hiding in the Capital. “There is some information that indicates that perpetrators of the crime are still hiding somewhere in the Capital and our investigations are progressing in the right direction,’’ the official added.

Meanwhile, investigating teams have been dispatched to UP, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala.