7 days, 4 mails, 2 sketches later, all trails turn cold

Seven days and four emails after the blast in the Delhi high court, the trails seem to be heading nowhere so far — at least for the National Investigation Agency that is probing the case. HT reports. Still a puzzle

Seven days and four emails after the blast in the Delhi high court, the trails seem to be heading nowhere so far — at least for the National Investigation Agency that is probing the case.

Although the NIA has decided to release fresh sketches and increased the reward to Rs 10 lakh information on the blast that left 13 people killed, the case is well poised to join a long list of unsolved or partially solved cases since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

The NIA is now almost certain that all the four emails received after the blast, were non-serious pranks, as in all likelihood, the senders had nothing to do with the blast.

According to NIA sources, the West Bengal police have detained the owner of a mobile phone that was used to send mails from ‘chotoominani5@gmail.com’ and are trying to ascertain whether he actually sent the mails or someone else used his SIM card.

The sender of the twin mails from ‘chotoo’ claimed to be a member of the Indian Mujahideen, the terror outfit responsible for most of blasts in major cities during the last six years. Besides, two other mails were received from 'harkatuljehadi2011@gmail.com' and 'kill.india@yahoo.com'.

The NIA is questioning suspects for mails sent from 'harkat' from a cyber café in Kishtwar in Kashmir. And the sender of the mail from ‘kill.india’ —Manu Oza — was arrested in Ahmedabad on Monday.

Earlier, the NIA suspected a man who had been hospitalised in Kolkata with injuries on his hand, but he had been let off after it was found that he had an old injury. What’s more, one person was detained in Guwahati as his face bore some resemblance with the sketches of the suspects in the Delhi blast. But his involvement has also been ruled out.