Investigators probing the blast outside the Delhi high court on Wednesday suspect Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and/or Indian Mujahideen (IM) provided logistical help to Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) for the attack.
An email sent to the media purportedly by HuJI, hours after the blast, claimed it executed the attack.But the three groups are part of the ‘Karachi Project’ of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The project seeks to use Indian operatives who are hiding in Pakistan to carry out terror attacks in India.
Also, the infiltration of three HuJI non-Indian operatives a few days before the Independence Day via the India-Bangladesh border has strengthened the suspicion. The men had been identified as Omar Suhail, Shahabuddin Sheikh, and Rana. “They had come at the behest of the Lashkar-e-Taiba,” said a counter-intelligence official on condition of anonymity.
The investigators are likely to grill senior HuJI commander Mohammed Amjad alias Khwaja who is in Hyderabad’s Cherlapally jail. Khwaja was arrested in January 2010 for allegedly orchestrating an attack on the Special Task Force headquarters in 2005.
“Khwaja had revealed HuJI’s close relationship with the LeT and the ISI and their Karachi project,” said another official.