NEW DELHI: Indian anti-terrorism investigators presented a suspect linked to last week’s deadly car bomb in New Delhi in court on Monday, one of three men now accused of involvement in the suicide attack.
Officials have not disclosed any details about the motives or organisational backing of the alleged attackers, all three of whom they say came from Indian-held Kashmir.The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said suspect Amir Rashid Ali was accused of having “conspired with the alleged suicide bomber, Umar Un Nabi, to unleash the terror attack” on Monday last week.
The NIA put the death toll at 10, although hospital officials told AFP that at least 12 people had been killed. It remains unclear whether Nabi was included in the tally.It also said in a statement issued late on Monday it had arrested another of Nabi’s alleged accomplices from held Kashmir.
The agency said Jasir Bilal Wani had “allegedly provided technical support for carrying out terror attacks by modifying drones and attempting to make rockets” ahead of the blast. An AFP photographer earlier saw Ali being taken under heavy guard from a police truck to a New Delhi court to face charges. Indian media reported that the court had ordered he be held in custody by the NIA for 10 days. The blast erupted near a busy metro station close to the Red Fort in Old Delhi, from where the premier’s annual Independence Day address is delivered.
Nabi was a medical professor at a university in Haryana state, just outside the capital, while Ali had allegedly travelled to Delhi to “facilitate the purchase of the car which was eventually used as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (IED)”, according to the NIA. India has provided no further information on the alleged motives or network behind the suspects.
Indian Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Monday compared the brief May conflict to a “trailer” rather than a full-length film. “I’d like to say that the movie hasn’t even started—only a trailer was shown, and, after the trailer, it was over within 88 hours,” Dwivedi said in a speech at a defence conference in New Delhi.
“So, we’re fully prepared for the future, and if Pakistan gives us such an opportunity, we’d like to provide them with a thorough education--on how a responsible nation should behave with its neighbours.”