NEW DELHI: Ashraf Ali, a Pakistani national arrested on Monday over terror charges, has reportedly identified a suspect in the 2011 Delhi High Court blasts case.
The suspect, Ghulam Sarvar, is also a Pakistani national, sources say. He allegedly fled to Pakistan after the blast, which had led to the deaths of 15 people. Sarwar, Ali claimed, was infiltrated into India through the same channel as him.
It is also being probed whether Ali had a role in a blast in Ramgarh in Jammu in 2009. A BSF DIG was killed in action when terrorists triggered an explosive at the spot along the international border. This came up while police were corroborating Ali’s claims of being involved in incidents of brutalising soldiers in the Valley a decade ago.
Sources said Ali’s claims pointed towards some incidents in which jawans had been beheaded during an ambush. Details were being collected from the respective police stations in J&K, an investigator confirmed.
Ali had shifted from Delhi to J&K in 2009 and remained there till 2017. If found involved, the tip-off with intelligence agencies that he was also an IED expert would turn out to be true, said an investigator.
DCP (Special Cell) Pramod Kushwaha is learnt to have formed a special team led by ACPs Lalit Mohan Negi and Hriday Bhushan to probe the foreign visits taken by Ali in the past. His passport analysis revealed that Ali went to Thailand to meet his ISI handlers after which he was directed to shift back to Delhi and lie low till further orders.
Questioned about his visit to Thailand, Ali told police that he had joined a Pakistan-based NGO called Dawat-e-Islami and had gone there for organisation-related work. He also visited Saudi Arabia in 2013, which he claimed was for Haj. Police have also found evidence of his frequent visits to Nepal, which Ali was not able to explain.
The two phones seized from Ali have been sent for forensic analysis and data retrieval. Ali is being jointly questioned by multiple intelligence agencies, including National Investigation Agency.
After the arrest of the terrorist, a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including an AK-47 assault rifle, ammunition and a hand grenade were seized from his hideout in Kalindi Kunj. The forensic analysis would help police establish the identity of the entity that had sent the coordinates of the location where the weapons had been buried on the instructions of Ali’s handler.
Ali, a native of Narowal district in Pakistan’s Punjab, was heading the sleeper cell nodes after infiltrating the country in 2004. Police are conducting raids to locate other members of the sleeper cells.
