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Police probing Lashker connection to cinema blasts

Monday, May 23, 2005 • Tamil Comments
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Police are probing whether a suspected Lashker-e-Taiba guerrilla arrested in the capital is linked to the cinema hall blasts that killed one person and injured nearly 60 Sunday.

Police officials said the Special Cell, which is investigating the blasts, arrested the alleged Lashker member Mohammad Ishaq Itto alias Shabbir Ahmed Wani in south Delhi's Safdarjung area late Sunday night.

"Nothing can be said till the forensic report determines the various aspects of the blasts. As of now, it is not clear whether he was involved in the blasts," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Ashok Chand told reporters.

Itto was arrested outside Safdarjung Hospital with 5.5 kg of RDX, two electronic detonators and Rs.250,000 in cash, officials said.

Police nabbed Itto on a tip-off that a Lashker ring had plans to set up base in Delhi and explosives were being sent to the city for attacks.

Itto, a Pakistan trained guerrilla who allegedly received money through a Chandni Chowk-based man engaged in hawala or money laundering, was caught while he was waiting to deliver the explosives to another militant identified only as Imran.

Meanwhile, a small explosion at Nand Nagri in northeastern Delhi Monday morning injured one person. Officials said it was too early to say whether it was related to Sunday's blasts.

Police have intensified security across the city and ordered a thorough check of all cinema halls.

Around 60 people were injured in the blasts that occurred at the Satyam multiplex and Liberty cinema hall during the screening of the controversial film "Jo Bole So Nihaal".

Sikh groups have demanded the film be banned, saying its title and scenes showing a Sikh man being chased by scantily clad women had offended their religious sentiments.

The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, which manages Sikh shrines in the capital, has condemned the blasts.

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