NIA handed over bomb blast probe, Sketches of two suspects released

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) was on Wednesday handed over the probe of the bomb blast outside the Delhi High Court which has killed eleven people and injured nearly 76 people and a special team of 20 members was formed to investigate the terror strike.

A notification was issued by the Union Home Ministry on Wednesday afternoon handing over the probe to the NIA.

This is the first case handed over directly to probe agency formed in the aftermath of 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Briefing reporters, Director General of NIA S C Sinha said a special investigation team headed by Deputy Inspector General Mukesh Kumar with Superintendent of Police Nitish Kumar as Chief Investigating Officer has been set up.

The team will have one more SP and two Additional SPs and two DySPs and the total strength will be 20, he said.

Asked about the mail received by a TV channel purportedly written by Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami, Sinha said "it is too premature to comment on HuJI mail but we are looking at it seriously because HuJI is a very prominent terrorist group which considers India as target number one."

He said there were no clear leads as of now but "we are working on several theories on several aspects. Some tests have been done on the spot which have been inconclusive...some more tests have to be done in the laboratory and that will tell the details.

"I think we will be able to know shortly the kind of explosives used in the blast," he said.

Sketches of two suspects released  

Police on Wednesday released sketches of two persons suspected of planting the bomb outside Delhi High Court which killed at least 11 people and injured over 76.

The sketches of the duo -- one believed to be in his 50s and the other in his mid-20s -- were prepared following descriptions provided by eyewitnesses who claimed they saw someone with a briefcase standing in the queue.

"We have released sketches of two suspects based on the descriptions given by eyewitnesses," a senior police official said.

The younger of the two suspects could be a couple of inches shorter than 6 feet with a middle parting of the hair while the other man was described as stout and having a light beard and shallow complexion.

"We may also release a third sketch depending upon the eyewitness accounts," the official said.

Police are also investigating whether the person who planted the bomb was among the injured.

According to some eyewitnesses, a man clad in a white shirt and carrying a briefcase was seen in the queue in front of the reception of the high court complex on Shershah Road just before the explosion.

Investigators said they are yet to ascertain whether there was a timer in the device.

"It may be possible that the bomb planter could not escape from the spot before the explosion took place. If there was a timer, he would have had ample time. There is also a possibility that the suspect could not manage to escape from the scene," a senior police official said.