New Delhi/Ranchi: Intensifying its crackdown
on Lashker-e-Taiba terror group, security agencies Thursday arrested one more person from Jharkhand in connection with the foiled terror attack in Delhi, raising the number of those
apprehended to three.
Tawseef Ahmad Pir (22), cousin of main accused Athesham
Malik (24), who underwent arms training in Pakistan, was
picked up from Hazaribagh last night and placed under
arrest this morning, police said.
Another person wanted in the case, Muzamil Amin Dar alias
Usman has managed to give a slip to Jammu and Kashmir police,
they said.
Briefing reporters in Delhi, Deputy Commissioner of
Police (Special Cell) Arun Kampani said Pir, a resident of
Sopore in North Kashmir, was to go to Pakistan for training
and was aware of the plans of Malik striking in Delhi.
While Kampani refused to divulge the place, sources in
the police said that Malik was to plant an explosive in the
cloth market of Chandni Chowk before heading back to Srinagar
on March five.
The sources said recoveries made from Athesham, who had
undergone a training in December 2011 in Pakistan, were
material for fabrication of IED, including wires, flash powder
used in crackers and sulphuric acid.
Malik was planning to fabricate an IED and plant it in
cloth market of Chandni chowk and the possible explosion could
have resulted in reducing the place to ashes, they said.
They said no explosives were found on Pir and he is
being brought to Delhi on transit remand.
Malik, son of Farooq Malik of Badam Bagh Sopore, had been
living in Ranchi for the last three years along with his
mother who hails from the same place.
A laboratory technician, Malik was earlier associated
with Lashker in Sopore and was arrested in 2007 along with two
others. Shafaqat Ali Tuggu (23), who was arrested along with
Malik, is a B Tech degree holder.
Delhi Police had yesterday said it had foiled a major
terror attack with the arrest of two LeT operatives who had
planned to trigger explosions in crowded localities in the
next few days.
Police had said that the attacks were "very imminent" and
both the arrested, whose identity was withheld, were Indian
citizens, one of whom was trained in Pakistan in bomb-making
and using weapons.
Father of Malik -- Farooq -- has built a house at Pabra
village in the Pelawal police station area of Hazaribagh
district and named it as "Kashmir House", where his wife and
Peer stay, but Farooq has not visited the house for over two
years, he said.
Kampani said ammunition was recovered from the terrorists
arrested in DelhiPolice also seized five mobile phones and
memory cards showing exclusive videos of their training in
Pakistan.
Malik's passport with recent history of travelling to
Pakistan has been seized, he said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, March 01, 2012, 20:44