Thaindian News

Jammu, Oct 19 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency probing the Sep 7 Delhi blast Wednesday searched the residences of one of the suspects, Wasim Malik, both at Jammu and his home town Kishtwar.

During the searches, sources in know of the operations of the NIA said the team found three mobile phones at the behest of Wasim, a student of unani medicine in Bangladesh.

He was arrested Oct 7.

The search teams came in a special aircraft to Jammu and later flew in a chopper to Kishtwar. Sources did not reveal other details but the swiftness of the action and use of the special aircraft and chopper suggested that the NIA had laid hands on some substantive evidence.

NIA that has been investigating the case since Sep 8, a day after the blasts took place in the premises of Delhi High Court in which 13 people were killed. The probe agency had zeroed in on Kishtwar, a town 230 km northeast of Jammu after it was discovered that an e-mail claiming responsibility for the blast was sent from a cyber cafe from there.

The investigations at the global internet cafe in Kishtwar led to arrests and questioning the three Kishtwar youth, including Wasim.

The investigators will check the call details and contacts on the phones recovered, NIA sources said, adding that the NIA expects to establish the involvement of the arrested youth in the blast.

Apart from Wasim Akram Malik, the NIA also suspects his brother Junaid Akram Malik, a suspected Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant, as the one who planted the bomb outside the Delhi High Court, which killed 15 people.

The NIA had Oct 7 taken Wasim Akram Malik, suspected to be am activist of the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI), into 14-day custody. He is in NIA custody till Oct 21.

The investigators had also questioned his fellow Kishtwar resident Amir Abbas Dev, who was with NIA for seven-day custody earlier this month.