Agencies/New Delhi
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Home Minister P Chidambaram addresses a press conference in New Delhi yesterday |
Chidambaram told reporters that two men were arrested at New Delhi’s main station after a tip-off from intelligence agencies and work by three state police agencies.
“They were planning to detonate a bomb or more than one bomb in a crowded locality,” he said, citing initial reports from the police investigation.
The pair are to be produced before a local court and detained for 10 days.
An unspecified number of other suspects had also been detained in connection with the alleged plot, Chidambaram said.
The LeT is one of the most powerful militant groups in Pakistan and is blamed for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that left 166 people dead.
Chidambaram said it was “an important module” of the group that had been planning a “terrorist incident in Delhi.”
Neither he nor the police, who also reportedly said an attack had been imminent, would disclose when the men were detained.
The arrests, if followed by convictions, would be an intelligence coup for the security forces which have been criticised for failing to prevent, or catch those responsible for, a string of blasts over the last few years.
New Delhi has been a frequent target for terror attacks.
In September, a bomb outside Delhi High Court killed 14 people, while in early February a bomb blast badly wounded an Israeli diplomat in the heart of the city near the prime minister’s residence.
Chidambaram also clarified that the module was not targeting VIPs in the national capital, but was planning to carry out explosions in crowded areas of the national capital.
“Incidents like these indicate the need for the NCTC,” Chidambaram said, referring to the National Counter-Terrorism Centre that has been put on hold following opposition from 11 chief ministers.
He said Home Secretary R K Singh has convened a meeting of state directors general of police and anti-terror squads to arrive at a consensus on NCTC.
The central government has put on hold plans to make the NCTC, an agency under the Intelligence Bureau, operational from today after it came under attack from 11 chief ministers, who questioned its sweeping powers and said it usurped the states’ responsibility.
Asked if he was confident of the NCTC getting operational anytime soon, Chidambaram said: “I am a patient man and I have been patient since May 2009 for NCTC and I will be patient for some more time.”
The home minister has written to 10 of the chief ministers opposed to NCTC in its present form, assuring them the central government’s commitment to work with the states to counter terrorism.
His letter came after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too wrote to seven chief ministers on the issue and asked the home minister to engage the dissenting state governments in a dialogue to find a way forward on NCTC.
“My note on NCTC is self-explanatory and I believe it has allayed the apprehensions. Therefore, I believe the meeting called by the home secretary will take a step forward on NCTC,” Chidambaram added.
A senior New Delhi police official, P N Agarwal, told reporters that security forces had recovered material for making bombs from the suspects.
“We have recovered items required for making an IED (improvised explosive device), passports and memory cards that show how to make a bomb and training in weapons handling,” Agarwal said.
“We are expecting one or two more arrests.”
Chidambaram also said India was confident of identifying the culprits behind the attack on the Israeli diplomat.
“The Delhi police which is in charge of the investigation is working with other agencies and they are confident that they will be able to crack the case,” he said.
A 42-year-old Israeli diplomat, the wife of the defence attache at the embassy, was critically injured in the February 13 attack when a motorcyclist attached a bomb to the back of her vehicle in central New Delhi.
“I have been briefed that the investigation is progressing in the right direction (and) some good intelligence has been gathered,” the home minister added.
He declined to answer questions on whether the hitman was suspected to be of Iranian origin.