NIA to probe any link between Lucknow and Delhi blast

In an important development, four alleged HuJI men who were arrested for the blast in Lucknow and Faizabad will be grilled by the NIA to look for any connection with the Delhi High Court blast that took place on Wednesday, our sources said today.

In an important development, four alleged HuJI men who were arrested for the blast in Lucknow and Faizabad will be grilled by the NIA to look for any connection with the Delhi high court blast that took place on Wednesday, our sources said on Thursday.

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Those arrested are - Khalid Mujahid, Tariq Qazmi, Sajjadur Rehman and Khalid Akhtar.

Among them, Sajjadur Rehman and Khalid Akhtar are Kashmiri residents.

Terror struck Delhi on Wednesday morning when a deadly bomb went off at a busy gate of the Delhi high court. It killed 11 people and left 76 others injured. The bomb went off barely 300 metres away from the spot where a minor explosion had taken place on May 25, which was also a Wednesday.

Police officials now say that it could have been a test run for this blast.

The high-intensity bomb targeted gate number 5, which is the main entry point for people — mostly litigants — going to the courtrooms. More than 5,000 people visit the high court on an average day. Wednesday is also the public interest litigations day in the court and sees higher than the usual numbers, pointing to a plan behind the attack.

Home minister P Chidambaram Wednesday said that detailed forensic examination reports on the Delhi high court blast were likely to be available Thursday and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) looking into the case had formed a core team of 20 and a support team of 17 officers to assist the investigation.

In a statement, Chidambaram said Delhi Police was working with the NIA in carrying out key tasks assigned to them.

He said experts in bomb blasts, who have been called from the FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) Gujarat, were closely examining the scene of the blast and would come up with critical evidence regarding the nature of the blast soon.