Delhi blast: Key person arrested by NIA retracts statement

The NIA has hit a fresh roadblock in its probe into the Delhi High Court blast with a key person arrested in the case retracting his earlier statement in which he had admitted to his role in the terror attack.

Official sources said Amir Abbas Dev, one of the four arrested in the case, has withdrawn his earlier "detailed statement" about his role in the blast.

Dev is currently in police custody. Sources said even the police were facing difficulty in corroborating his earlier statement as there were many loopholes.

They said Dev has now denied any connection with the blast. He is being questioned at length for his alleged role in sending an e-mail barely two hours after the September 7 blast.

He is being interrogated by a joint team of interrogators of J and K Police and the National Investigation Agency here, 250 kms from Jammu.

Dev is accused of handing over the draft mail three days before the blast to two high school students.

Dev had earlier told the investigators that an e-mail claiming responsibility on behalf of HuJI was sent on his directions, the sources said.

He is alleged to have drafted the mail and then handed it over to the two boys with the instruction that it was to be mailed to media houses immediately after they hear about the blasts in the national capital.

The two boys were the first to have been arrested by the police for sending the mail.

As sleuths were still struggling for a breakthrough to trace the main perpetrators of the September seven blast, the sources said there was a possibility that the two could be part of a larger conspiracy behind the terror strike.

Dev allegedly has links with a religious organisation and was picked up after detailed interrogation of the two boys, the sources said.

He is suspected to have been involved in brainwashing youths to join militant ranks.

The NIA had rushed senior officers including DIG Mukesh Singh after getting information about the Kishtwar connection to the blast case.

The fourth arrested in the case was identified as Hilal Amin.