NIA to revisit Samjhauta footage after Kamal probe

Investigators are once again looking into the footage of over 15 CCTV cameras installed at the Old Delhi railway station to see whether any of the four Samjhauta Express bombers can be seen in it.

Investigators are once again looking into the footage of over 15 CCTV cameras installed at the Old Delhi railway station to see whether any of the four Samjhauta Express bombers can be seen in it.

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“We had checked the footage earlier after Swami Assemanad’s confessional statement. We didn’t find anything then. Now, after the arrest of alleged Samjhauta bomber Kamal Chauhan, we are looking into the footage again. We are handicapped by the fact that at the time of the blasts, there were no CCTVs installed at the platform from which Samjhauta Express used to depart. But any of the other CCTV cameras may have captured the bombers,” said a source.

On the basis of Kamal’s interrogation, investigators have been able to identify all planters. The NIA has identified Lokesh Sharma as another planter. The identity of two other planters is also known to investigators. Further, NIA sleuths know the entrance and exit routes used by the bomb-planting team and their other activities at the station. As a result, investigators are hopeful that revisiting the footage may be of some help.

The CCTV footage had been picked up by the special cell sleuths of the Delhi Police immediately after four bombs exploded in the Atari-bound Samjhauta Express on May 18, 2007. The blasts left 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, dead. The special cell examined the footage but the focus of the probe was on jehadi elements, therefore it drew a blank.

After the confessional statement of Swami Aseemanand, the NIA also examined it but didn't get any help from it. It might get third time lucky.