IED in Delhi: Police say there was local support

Investigators in the Old Seemapuri Improvised Explosive Device (IED) recovery incident are probing any support extended to the suspects by local residents. A pattern and similarities between the earlier IED recovery at Ghazipur and Old Seemapuri are being drawn to zero in on other suspects.

On Friday, National Investigation Agency (NIA) teams also inspected the spot. Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana told the media on Friday that there were similarities in the IED that was recovered in Ghazipur on 17 January and the one recovered and neutralised in Old Seemapuri on Thursday.

“As per probe, these IEDs were prepared to cause a blast in public places…such activities are not possible without local support,” Asthana said.

“Special Cell and investigative teams are on it; we’re probing forward and backward linkages. We’re trying to pre-empt every such incident in Delhi and expose any local/foreign network. I cannot reveal any further details which may hamper the probe,” he added.

The Delhi Police have stepped up security in the area. We have put up barricades and sealed the house. The evidence of crime has been preserved. “The local police have also done the verification of tenants in the area especially the verification of the house on the first floor of the building as part of the Republic Day security drills and a local enquiry has also been conducted by the local police,” he said.

The Delhi Police Special Cell had conducted a search in a house at Old Seemapuri to establish any linkage between Ghazipur and Old Seemapuri IED recoveries.

Investigators have now found that the Seemapuri IED is similar to the one used in Ghazipur. Also, the switches and timer devices connected to the explosive were similar to each other.

Sources said that a multi-agency probe is being carried out which shows the involvement of local gangs and a terror module backed by ISI.

On Thursday around 400 people were temporarily vacated from nearby buildings when the “suspicious” bag was found.

The Special Cell team also retrieved all the CCTV cameras installed in and around the building in Old Seemapuri and the footage is being analysed to get clues, a senior police officer said. The owner of the house, who was detained on the day of the incident, told the police that while giving the house on rent, he had taken the documents of the two suspects but the documents are yet to be recovered by the Special Cell unit of the force which is probing the case, the officer said.

According to the Spell Cell sources, police are trying to create sketches of the suspects with the help of the owner of the house.