8 Sep, 2011, 06.23PM IST, IANS
NEW DELHI: Investigators probing the Delhi High Court bombing were on Thursday grappling for clues to identify the perpetrators, a day after a powerful explosion outside the complex killed 12 people.
"Investigation teams of the NIA ( National Investigation Agency) are vigorously pursuing various leads with the cooperation of Delhi Police," U.K. Bansal, secretary (internal security) in the home ministry, told reporters.
He said forensic experts summoned from Gujarat and Hyderabad to assist in the investigation again scanned the scene of the crime Thursday.
"They have found some more material which may have relevance to the investigation," Bansal said, indicating that there was no concrete evidence related to the explosives used in the bomb.
He, however, said traces of a mixture of nitrate and PETN, (pentaerythritol trinitrate), have been found but that was not conlcusive.
"We will let you know about the forenic report when it comes," he said.
The NIA has also detained some suspects related to the bombing, including three in Jammu and Kashmir.
Those detained include two owners of a cyber cafe in Kishtwar district of the state who were questioned about the person who had sent an email claiming responsibility for the blast.
The email, attributed to the Harkat-ul Jehadi Islami, was found to have been been sent from Global Internet Cafe at Malik Market in Kishtwar, once a militancy hub in Jammu region.
On questioning the owners of the cafe, investigators garnered some information about how the sender of the email looked.
"We have got some details about the physical features of the person. Police parties have been deputed to trace him," a senior police officer working on the investigations told IANS.
Bansal also said that "some information pointing to a Kashmir connection with the email received" was being pursued with the help of the Kashmir police.
The email theory got a new twist on the day after the blast as another email attributed to the 'Indian Muzahiddin' claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Written in Hindi, it said the outfit had timed the blast on the day when the crowd outside the court was huge.
"We have done it," it said and threatened to carry out another blast at a shopping mall in Delhi next Tuesday.
The email remains unverified, even as Bansal said it was being studied by the intelligence agencies.
Meanwhile, teams of anti-terrorism squads from the neighbouring states have also reached Delhi "for discussions and consultations with NIA and Delhi Police in connection with the investigation", said Bansal.
Struggling for any concrete clue, the NIA also announced a reward of Rs.500,000 for anyone providing clues about the suspects.
"The NIA has announced a reward of Rs.5 lakh for anyone giving any information to follow up the case. As far as investigation is concerned, it is going on. Delhi Police and NIA are coordinating," Home Secretary R.K. Singh told reporters.
Police also junked the theory that a missing car may hold a clue to solving the blast puzzle after the vehicle was found in Faridabad, on the outskirts of the capital.
The car -- a silver Santro with registration number DL9CA 6034) -- was seen by eyewitnesses near the blast site just before the explosion.
The car, owned by National Insurance Company employee Inshu Minocha, was stolen in 2009.
"The car has nothing to do with the bomb blast," said a police officer.
The NIA also detained a suspect from Uttar Pradesh. He was identified with his first name Shehzad only. Source said he resembled with the sketch of the suspects prepared by police.
The agency also ruled out the possibility that the attackers may have been among the 12 people who died in the blast, after all the victims were identified.
It has also carried out background checks on the over 91 injured and confirmed that none were suspects.
Delhi HC blast: Investigators still grappling for clues
Showing posts with label NIA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NIA. Show all posts
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Monday, June 14, 2010
National Security: Army Major's computer was accessed from Pakistan
14/06/2010
New Delhi: Security agencies probing the role of an Andaman- based Army Major have claimed to have found that his computer and emails had been remotely accessed from a server located in Pakistan, a finding that has come as a jolt for them.
The probe also indicated that the National Investigating Agency and Military Intelligence officials had neglected the case property--the computer of the Army Major--and certain files and mails were deleted when the machine was in their custody, official sources said.
During the probe, it was also found that the computer of the army officer had been accessed many a time from a proxy server based in Pakistan and one more country, the location of which was being examined.
It seemed the other server could also be from Pakistan but the proxy server addresses had been hopped through various Internet gateways of European countries.
The Army major, who is being investigated by various security agencies, came under the scanner when his email address was picked up while scanning the emails of US-born terror accused David Headley.
The US agencies informed the Indian security agencies about the email address and the Army major, who was likely to be booked under Official Secrets Act by the NIA, was put under the scanner.
The probe so far has indicated that the official had violated OSA as nearly 2,500 defence presentations were found on his computer. These documents related to issues much beyond his sphere of work.
The computer is currently with the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL) in Hyderabad. Earlier, the Major had said he was an inquisitive person but he was himself at a loss to know how some files had entered his computer. The forensic report of the seized computer clearly shows that there were over 2,500 presentations, some of which were secret and even top secret, the sources said.
In a related development, the forensic report said that some files and emails were deleted from the computer on a particular date after it was seized by authorities, pressing panic buttons among the agencies.
Source: Agencies
Army Major's computer was accessed from Pakistan
Related Story
Indian Military restricts social networking sites
New Delhi: Security agencies probing the role of an Andaman- based Army Major have claimed to have found that his computer and emails had been remotely accessed from a server located in Pakistan, a finding that has come as a jolt for them.
The probe also indicated that the National Investigating Agency and Military Intelligence officials had neglected the case property--the computer of the Army Major--and certain files and mails were deleted when the machine was in their custody, official sources said.
During the probe, it was also found that the computer of the army officer had been accessed many a time from a proxy server based in Pakistan and one more country, the location of which was being examined.
It seemed the other server could also be from Pakistan but the proxy server addresses had been hopped through various Internet gateways of European countries.
The Army major, who is being investigated by various security agencies, came under the scanner when his email address was picked up while scanning the emails of US-born terror accused David Headley.
The US agencies informed the Indian security agencies about the email address and the Army major, who was likely to be booked under Official Secrets Act by the NIA, was put under the scanner.
The probe so far has indicated that the official had violated OSA as nearly 2,500 defence presentations were found on his computer. These documents related to issues much beyond his sphere of work.
The computer is currently with the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL) in Hyderabad. Earlier, the Major had said he was an inquisitive person but he was himself at a loss to know how some files had entered his computer. The forensic report of the seized computer clearly shows that there were over 2,500 presentations, some of which were secret and even top secret, the sources said.
In a related development, the forensic report said that some files and emails were deleted from the computer on a particular date after it was seized by authorities, pressing panic buttons among the agencies.
Source: Agencies
Army Major's computer was accessed from Pakistan
Related Story
Indian Military restricts social networking sites
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Spy ring in the Army?
ndtv — June 08, 2010 — The bad news for the Army doesn't seem to stop. NDTV has learnt that the National Investigative Agency inquiring into a leak from the Andaman and Nicobar Command, allegedly to the ISI, may be bigger than initially thought. Earlier, a Major had been questioned but now, sources say the role of more officers is being investigated.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Making National Investigating Agency Work
On January 1, the National Investigation Agency Act as well as the Unlawful Acrtivities (Prevention) Amendment (UAPA) Bill became law. Ironically, on the same day, seven years after it was set up for coordinating intelligence intelligence sharing, the Multi Agency Centre (MAC) also became functional through an executive order. It has the charter of transferring intelligence received by central agency automatically to the State Police and visa versa.Full article click: Making NIA Work
Friday, January 9, 2009
Superpower India: Don’t just talk, act like one
The series of events after 26/11 (including the January 1 Guwahati bomb blasts) have left no one in any doubt about a few facts. Any naval specialist will agree that the manner in which the 10 terrorists attacked Mumbai, including the transit in the Indian fishing boat Kuber, could only be possible with the involvement of the ISI, the Pakistani Army and Navy.
Media reports indicate that about 70 per cent of my proposals made in various articles in this paper since May 2008 have been accepted by the government. I hope that they are implemented urgently, especially since the recent roller coaster — initial “vehement denial” followed by “yes, Kasav is Pakistani”), ISI leaflets given to Pakistan Army about dismembering India by 2020 — indicate that Pakistan does not have peace on its mind. Poonch firefighting indicates the shape of things to come from the “epicentre of terrorism”.
The manner in which the Pakistani military, hell-bent on destabilising and dismembering India, took over the decision-making process from President Asif Zardari and his nascent government to win public support for the discredited military and from the terrorists to “defend Pakistan” in case of war, has left no one in doubt that the Pakistan Army Chief, General Ashraf Parvez Kayani, is the decision-maker in that troubled land, with the Pakistani government acting as his spokesperson. Indeed, temperatures went up last month when Gen. Kayani said, “Pakistan will respond in minutes,” and things cooled down only when, on December 29, he said, “There is a need to de-escalate”.
Why did Gen. Kayani raise the war hysteria pitch to such levels, and why did the media report that the Pakistani Army had withdrawn some troops from the Afghan border? The answer may not be too difficult. Unlike India, the Pakistani military machine has been kept well oiled with the $10 billion in aid received in the last seven years. It is, indeed, amazing that Pakistan, despite being totally bankrupt, has managed a $8 billion IMF loan, asked for a $60 billion “grant” to boost its economy, is acquiring three German-type 214 submarines, co-producing 150 Chinese FC-17 light fighter jets, inducting 36 Chinese FC-20 (J-10) heavy fighter jets, three Chinese frigates, Swedish and Chinese AWACS, F-16 fighter jets, artillery and Brazilian SAMs.
There is no doubt in my mind that buoyed by the “success” of the 10-man terrorist strike on 26/11, and emboldened by the “civilised and diplomatic” response of the Indian government and international community (the US is planning to give Pakistan another $15 billion), the Pakistani military, ISI and various terrorist outfits would be planning more devastating attacks in the near future. These attacks could be from the sea, air or land, or a combination which would aim to saturate India’s response mechanism, cause maximum damage and pull us into the “failed state quagmire” of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
So how does India prepare for this “doomsday” scenario. The answers are complex. The government has taken a few punitive steps by introducing the National Investigating Agency (NIA) and making the 1967 Act stiffer.
Vice-Admiral Arun Kumar Singh retired as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam
Read more: Superpower India: Don’t just talk, act like one By Arun Kumar Singh
Media reports indicate that about 70 per cent of my proposals made in various articles in this paper since May 2008 have been accepted by the government. I hope that they are implemented urgently, especially since the recent roller coaster — initial “vehement denial” followed by “yes, Kasav is Pakistani”), ISI leaflets given to Pakistan Army about dismembering India by 2020 — indicate that Pakistan does not have peace on its mind. Poonch firefighting indicates the shape of things to come from the “epicentre of terrorism”.
The manner in which the Pakistani military, hell-bent on destabilising and dismembering India, took over the decision-making process from President Asif Zardari and his nascent government to win public support for the discredited military and from the terrorists to “defend Pakistan” in case of war, has left no one in doubt that the Pakistan Army Chief, General Ashraf Parvez Kayani, is the decision-maker in that troubled land, with the Pakistani government acting as his spokesperson. Indeed, temperatures went up last month when Gen. Kayani said, “Pakistan will respond in minutes,” and things cooled down only when, on December 29, he said, “There is a need to de-escalate”.
Why did Gen. Kayani raise the war hysteria pitch to such levels, and why did the media report that the Pakistani Army had withdrawn some troops from the Afghan border? The answer may not be too difficult. Unlike India, the Pakistani military machine has been kept well oiled with the $10 billion in aid received in the last seven years. It is, indeed, amazing that Pakistan, despite being totally bankrupt, has managed a $8 billion IMF loan, asked for a $60 billion “grant” to boost its economy, is acquiring three German-type 214 submarines, co-producing 150 Chinese FC-17 light fighter jets, inducting 36 Chinese FC-20 (J-10) heavy fighter jets, three Chinese frigates, Swedish and Chinese AWACS, F-16 fighter jets, artillery and Brazilian SAMs.
There is no doubt in my mind that buoyed by the “success” of the 10-man terrorist strike on 26/11, and emboldened by the “civilised and diplomatic” response of the Indian government and international community (the US is planning to give Pakistan another $15 billion), the Pakistani military, ISI and various terrorist outfits would be planning more devastating attacks in the near future. These attacks could be from the sea, air or land, or a combination which would aim to saturate India’s response mechanism, cause maximum damage and pull us into the “failed state quagmire” of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
So how does India prepare for this “doomsday” scenario. The answers are complex. The government has taken a few punitive steps by introducing the National Investigating Agency (NIA) and making the 1967 Act stiffer.
Vice-Admiral Arun Kumar Singh retired as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam
Read more: Superpower India: Don’t just talk, act like one By Arun Kumar Singh
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Military options are never easy
The Mumbai attacks have served as a wake-up call and our political leaders appear to have stirred themselves out of their stupor to review the national security threats and challenges that the country faces.
The UAPA Amendment Bill and the creation of a National Investigation Agency are good first steps. Enhancing intelligence acquisition should now be the foremost priority. The solution lies in upgrading humint (human intelligence) capabilities by an order of magnitude, creating a suitable organisation to make intelligence assessments and fine-tuning India's counter-terrorism response to react quickly and effectively.
Simultaneously, counter-terrorism cooperation with friendly powers should be enhanced so as to benefit from a larger pool of knowledge and resources.
The intelligence agencies are cognisant of the existence of many sleeper cells across the country. A few of these terror modules have been eliminated in encounters in recent years. It is only by stepping up the deployment of humint resources and penetrating the control HQ of the sleeper modules -- a very complex intelligence operation -- that sufficient information about them can be acquired.
Thousands of well-qualified ex-servicemen retire at a young age (35 to 40 years) and go back to their villages every year. Many of them would be willing and eager to take up the challenge to be trained as agents of the Intelligence Bureau. The people of the country can also contribute to this national effort by maintaining vigilance and reporting all unusual activities to the authorities.
New police personnel and intelligence agents need to be recruited, armed, equipped, trained, housed and fed before they can join the work force. Surveillance devices like CCTVs and infrared monitors also need to be purchased and installed.
The ones that are already available need to be made serviceable. Coastal and border surveillance must be carefully coordinated. Meanwhile, the security of vulnerable areas must be ensured by calling for help from the central police and paramilitary forces, bearing in mind that some of these are also overstretched.
One action that all state governments can take right away is to withdraw the thousands of security personnel detailed for VIP security duties and re-deploy them at key locations that are more vulnerable than VIPs so that they can act as a deterrent.
On a larger plane, the Indian leadership must stop pretending that all of India's national security challenges are of external origin. Most of India's law and order problems like communal riots and agitations for increased reservations and quotas have been caused by vote bank politics and the extant politician-bureaucrat-police-criminal nexus.
The time has come to re-examine the merits and demerits of India's parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster model in which both the executive branch and the legislature are manned by the same people.
India's political leaders have failed to rise above self interest -- that is centred on elections and secret funds to win them -- and have therefore failed to provide good governance. They have failed both the Constitution and the people and it is time for change.
India needs its own Obama moment if the present rot that lies within is to be stemmed. If the Mumbai terror attacks serve to cause some introspection and act as a catalyst for change, the sacrifice of the lives of 200 innocent people and security forces personnel will not have been in vain.
Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (Retd)
Director
Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS)
Read more: Military options are never easy
Related articles:
End of an Era
In Your Face
War clouds, nuclear overhang
The UAPA Amendment Bill and the creation of a National Investigation Agency are good first steps. Enhancing intelligence acquisition should now be the foremost priority. The solution lies in upgrading humint (human intelligence) capabilities by an order of magnitude, creating a suitable organisation to make intelligence assessments and fine-tuning India's counter-terrorism response to react quickly and effectively.
Simultaneously, counter-terrorism cooperation with friendly powers should be enhanced so as to benefit from a larger pool of knowledge and resources.
The intelligence agencies are cognisant of the existence of many sleeper cells across the country. A few of these terror modules have been eliminated in encounters in recent years. It is only by stepping up the deployment of humint resources and penetrating the control HQ of the sleeper modules -- a very complex intelligence operation -- that sufficient information about them can be acquired.
Thousands of well-qualified ex-servicemen retire at a young age (35 to 40 years) and go back to their villages every year. Many of them would be willing and eager to take up the challenge to be trained as agents of the Intelligence Bureau. The people of the country can also contribute to this national effort by maintaining vigilance and reporting all unusual activities to the authorities.
New police personnel and intelligence agents need to be recruited, armed, equipped, trained, housed and fed before they can join the work force. Surveillance devices like CCTVs and infrared monitors also need to be purchased and installed.
The ones that are already available need to be made serviceable. Coastal and border surveillance must be carefully coordinated. Meanwhile, the security of vulnerable areas must be ensured by calling for help from the central police and paramilitary forces, bearing in mind that some of these are also overstretched.
One action that all state governments can take right away is to withdraw the thousands of security personnel detailed for VIP security duties and re-deploy them at key locations that are more vulnerable than VIPs so that they can act as a deterrent.
On a larger plane, the Indian leadership must stop pretending that all of India's national security challenges are of external origin. Most of India's law and order problems like communal riots and agitations for increased reservations and quotas have been caused by vote bank politics and the extant politician-bureaucrat-police-criminal nexus.
The time has come to re-examine the merits and demerits of India's parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster model in which both the executive branch and the legislature are manned by the same people.
India's political leaders have failed to rise above self interest -- that is centred on elections and secret funds to win them -- and have therefore failed to provide good governance. They have failed both the Constitution and the people and it is time for change.
India needs its own Obama moment if the present rot that lies within is to be stemmed. If the Mumbai terror attacks serve to cause some introspection and act as a catalyst for change, the sacrifice of the lives of 200 innocent people and security forces personnel will not have been in vain.
Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (Retd)
Director
Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS)
Read more: Military options are never easy
Related articles:
End of an Era
In Your Face
War clouds, nuclear overhang
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