New Delhi: A fresh round of intensive combing of the blast site outside the Delhi High Court began on Thursday early morning. From tree-tops to roadside crevices the search began earnestly. By afternoon the National Investigation Agency (NIA) ran into conflicting dead-end with a santro which was found not connected with the blast probe.
Elsewhere, investigation teams were investigating other elements of the case, from tracing the email sent, tracking phone records and rounding up suspects.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Wednesday's blast has gone up to 13 after another patient, who was admitted in the ICU of the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, succumbed to his injuries on Thursday evening.
Earlier on Thursday, another man died at a hospital, while the condition of some of the victims continued to be critical. Pramod Kumar (40), a resident of west Delhi's Hari Nagar, breathed his last at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on Thursday morning, hospital and police officials said.
The investigators also managed to identify a cyber-cafe in Kishtwar near Jammu from where the email claiming responsibility by Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI) was allegedly sent. Its owner and three others were detained for questioning and though investigators say they are probing both mails, they may well be red herrings.
The interrogation of the cyber café owner and three others has revealed that a youngster could have sent the mail as Afzal Guru's case is an emotive issue in the region. Police are now looking for this youngster.
The UP Police detained a person in Balrampur later on Thursday as he allegedly resembled one of the sketches released by Delhi Police on Wednesday. The fifth person, who has been detained in Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh, has been identified as Shahzad. Police are verifying his identity through his relatives and village sarpanch. Shahzad reportedly works in a factory in Pune.
A Rs 5-lakh reward has been announced for information on the possible bombers by the NIA even as an inter state meeting scheduled for Friday is likely to widen the scope of investigations further.
Even as the investigators are still looking for clues in the Delhi High Court blast case, another email claiming that Wednesday's terror strike was carried out by the Indian Mujahideen has surfaced. The email has been reportedly sent by an Indian Mujahideen operative even as five people, including four in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar and one in Uttar Pradesh, have been detained. It has also warned that the next terror strike would take place at a shopping complex.
UK Bansal, Secretary (Internal Security) in the Ministry of Home Affairs, said that Anti-Terror Squads of neighbouring states are also helping in the investigations. Bansal said that forensic experts have been called in from other states and are helping the NIA.
He said that the email sent reportedly by the Indian Mujahideen cannot be ignored and the investigators will probe it.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram chaired a meeting of the chiefs of the Research and Analysis Wing, Intelligence Bureau and NIA on Thursday morning to review the security situation.
Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit on Thursday said politicisation of terror is a problem. "When attacking the integrity of a nation is concerned politics should be kept behind," said Dikshit.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday expressed 'sorrow' and 'anguish' over the Delhi High Court blast. Sonia, who returned on Thursday morning from London after undergoing surgery for an undisclosed ailment in US, expressed her condolence to the affected families.
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