New Delhi:
More than 48 hours after a high-intensity blast at the Delhi High Court killed 13 people, there has been no breakthrough in the case. But Home Minister P Chidambaram said today that there were promising leads, though not yet conclusive leads, that were being pursued round-the-clock. He said all intelligence was being followed seriously till proved right or wrong.
Apart from the National Investigation Agency's 20-member special team, Delhi Police has formed three teams to investigate the blast. Investigators are examining the possibility that the bomb was placed in a bag near Gate no 5 of the High Court and another sketch of the suspect is now being prepared based on the description provided by a third eyewitness. Two sketches had been circulated on Wednesday evening.
After two emails purportedly from different terror groups claiming responsibility for the blast, a third email has been found posted on the Delhi Police website. This email, is "simple, amateurish" says Home Minister P Chidambaram and contains a code that seems to suggest that Ahmedabad could be targeted next. Investigators are following up on his email too, as they have being doing on the others. The Home Minister said the Gujarat government had been alerted.
The first email, purportedly from the Bangladesh-based terror group HuJI (B) was traced to a cyber cafe in Kishtwar and the man suspected to have sent it has been detained for questioning. The second mail, purportedly sent by the Indian Mujahideen (IM) has not been traced yet.
Mr Chidambaram said 13 people had died in the blast, 88 were injured - 40 had discharged and 48 were under treatment in various hospitals of the Capital.
The Home Minister made a point to say that his government had a "responsibility to share" and so was sharing all information. He said it was doing everything it could to tackle terror and took umbrage at BJP leaders saying today that the government was suffering from "internal conflict" and that this was affecting its actions. BJP leader Arun Jaitley took the government to task today saying it had failed to solve any of the recent terror attacks in the country. "This never used to happen. It shows our intelligence agencies are not able to decipher the way of working of the terror organisations," he said.
No one, Mr Chidambaram said, could accuse his government of not doing enough. "Not a day passes that we don't reinforce our terror infrastructure, we are looking at every threat from all over the nation...I regret what leaders of opposition have said, especially when families are suffering and people are dead. It's deeply unfortunate that the BJP so quickly gave up bi-partisanship and statesmanship. Perhaps it is not in the DNA of the BJP to maintain bipartisanship when India and neighbouring countries face the grave challenge of terrorism."
Mr Chidambaram said security in Delhi was being reviewed. Advisories had also been issued top all major commercial establishments likely to see large public gathering in big metros. He appealed to everyone to be alert. "We must learn from other countries, how other governments react. Everyone has to be alert, they have to report what they see - suspicious objects, suspicious movement," the Home Minister said.