Mosque attackers now prize catch

Home Ministry sources told MiD DAY that the mammoth reward is likely to be proposed for the capture of the perpetrators of the attack that took place on September 19 last year

Mosque attackers now prize catch

Home Ministry sources told MiD DAY that the mammoth reward is likely to be proposed for the capture of the perpetrators of the attack that took place on September 19 last year

Confirming that they have proposed for an increase in the reward in connection with the Jama Masjid case, Special Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, PN Aggarwal said:

When bullets flew: People look on from Jama Masjid after the firing took
place near gate no. 3 of the historical monument in which two Taiwanese
tourists were injured in New Delhi. File pic

"We have proposed for an incline in the amount of the reward, but I will not be able to comment on it specifically unless we get the notification." Special Cell is the unit looking into the probe of the case and they expect that they will get the approval from the ministry.

Sources in the MHA told MiD DAY that after facing flak from a lot of quarters for not being able to nail the perpetrators of the Jama Masjid incident, they have now planned this move to take the reward amount to a mammoth Rs 50 lakh.u00a0

On September 19, two Taiwanese nationals were injured after two motorcycle-borne attackers fired at a tourist bus outside the historic Jama Masjid. Soon after the firing, a car blast had taken place in the vicinity.
In October 2010, Delhi police announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for information about the two bikers or those who helped them execute the attack. The then Police Commissioner YS Dadwal sought the help of the public in providing investigators clues about those involved in the attack.

Sources said that this is the first time such a huge amount would be declared for an incident like Jama Masjid by government agencies. The notorious dacoit Veerappan had a prize of about Rs 4 crore on his head. He was killed in an encounter in 2004 after evading apprehension for over 20 years.

There have been a lot of theories regarding the Jama Masjid probe. Whereas a few investigators stressed solely on involvement of local hoodlums in the incident, others didn't rule out the possibility of terror wings being involved, primarily Indian Mujahideen whose module is believed to be active in north India for the past few years. In fact, movements of a few IM members (suspects) were tracked through electronic surveillance, but cops were not able to zero-in on anything concrete.

The Attack
Senior officials of Delhi Police had confirmed that ammonium nitrate was used in the explosion that was carried out in a car soon after two suspected terrorists fired several rounds at the foreign tourists outside Gate number 3 of the 16th century mosque in the Walled City.
"RDX was not used for explosion in the car; we suspect ammonium nitrate was used in the incident. We are not ruling out anything for now and are investigating all angles in the case. We have found some inflammable items in the car and it has been sent for forensic examination," a senior police official had said.

Brainstorming
A few days ago, the Home Minister, P Chidambaram had held a meeting with Delhi Police Commissioner BK Gupta, DGP, UP and Secretary (Internal Security), UK Bansal and asked them to work in tandem to solve the Jama Masjid case. "All the three persons are batchmates and Chidambaram asked them to coordinate in a better way to crack the case," sources in the MHA said.u00a0
The government is keen on solving the Jama Masjid case and is taking every possible step to get a clue, sources stated.