NEWS

Was Khwaja behind Mumbai blast?

By Onkar Singh in New Delhi
July 12, 2006 11:11 IST

More than twelve hours have passed since seven blasts rocked Mumbai's suburban trains. No group so far has owned responsibility nor has anybody been arrested in this connection.

Even though fingers are being pointed at Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, no evidence has yet been unearthed.

While the police in Mumbai is trying to nab the perpetrators of the crime, Delhi police is still in the process of finding out the links and the role of the LeT militant Ajaz Hussain Khwaja (43) who was arrested from Lodhi colony in South Delhi on Monday. They are also interrogating him to find out if he had links with the militants who were involved in the Mumbai blasts.

Delhi police chief K K Paul said it was too early to specifically say anything about it.

"We are investigating the case. It would be premature to

say if he knew anything about the blasts."

Delhi police had been looking for Khwaja for sometime, as he is the man who has been handling cash on behalf of the militants in the Capital and some other parts of the country.

A resident of Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir Khwaja was inducted into LeT in Feburary 2006.

"He has links with militants across the border and Mumbai and has been financing the terror network," Paul said.

According to the investigating officers, so far, he has distributed over Rs 3 crore he received through hawala transactions.

On July 1 he received a consignment of Rs 60 lakhs. Delhi police is trying to confirm if this money had been routed to Mumbai.

Paul said that his force has been put on high alert following serial grenade attacks in Srinagar and bomb blasts in Mumbai trains.

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

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