Amid the intensified investigation into the Delhi Red Fort blast, a medical student, identified as Mohammad Arif, has been detained by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) from Kanpur. The suspect has been arrested over an alleged connection to Delhi blast suspect Dr Shaheen Saeed, officials said.
Gyanendra Kumar, Chief Medical Staff (CMS) at LPS Institute of Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery in Kanpur, while speaking to the media on Thursday, said, “Dr Arif, a first-year cardiology student from Anantnag in Kashmir, was called in for questioning yesterday evening,” as cited by ANI.
The Chief Medical Staff said that the administration here remains unaware of his life outside the campus.
Kumar also said that Dr Arif had been practising at the cardiology department for the last three months, and nothing wrong was observed in his behaviour.
“Dr Arif is a first-year cardiology student. He took admission through counselling 2-3 months ago. He doesn`t live on campus. He lives outside. At 7:00 in the evening, we were informed that a team had called him for questioning. He`s from Kashmir. I have no knowledge of whether there was any such behaviour or any complaint before this; we are not aware of anything like this. We do not know with whom he lives. We have no idea who his roommate is. We do not know about anyone,” CMS Kumar added.
Dr Shaheen Saeed was arrested earlier in connection with the Faridabad arms and explosive haul.
As reported by news agency ANI, a joint team of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) and Delhi Police on Thursday recovered a body part in New Lajpat Rai Market, near the blast site in the national capital, which claimed 12 lives. The body part was taken for forensic examination to aid the ongoing investigation.
Sources further revealed that, “The security agencies have recovered the diaries of Delhi blast case accused Dr Umar and Dr Muzammil, which mention the dates November 8 to 12, indicating that the planning was underway for such an incident during that period,” as reported by news agency ANI.
According to the sources, the diary also contained the names of about 25 individuals, most of them hailing from Jammu and Kashmir and Faridabad.
According to the information from the diaries, it can be said that the blast was to be carried out as part of a well-planned conspiracy.
News agency ANI reported that these diaries were recovered on Tuesday and Wednesday from Dr Umar`s room number four and Muzammil`s room number 13.
Additionally, police recovered a diary from Muzammil`s room, the same location where they recovered 360 kg of explosives in Dhauj, located just 300 metres from Al-Falah University.
The diaries which were recovered by the investigation agencies carried code words which investigators are now piecing together. The agencies are also looking into whether different vehicles were being prepared for the blasts, reported by news agency ANI.
According to sources, after the i20 and EcoSport, it was learnt that the suspects were planning to prepare two more vehicles for the blast to expand the target.
Investigation agencies on Thursday further informed that around eight suspects were allegedly preparing to execute coordinated explosions at four locations, with each pair assigned to a specific target city.
(With inputs from ANI)