Samjhauta blasts: Cops in the dark

STILL SEARCHING: In terms of hard evidence pertaining to the blasts, the police have very little to offer.

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New Delhi: While the Samjhauta Express has moved on, the investigations do not seem to be gaining concrete momentum.

In the past 24 hours apart the Haryana police had detained five persons - in addition to the two already detained earlier - in connection with the case.

The detentions happened following raids in Saharanpur, Old Delhi and Muzaffarnagar. Three of those detained have been released after interrogation. Some arrests have been made in Rajasthan as well.

Says Rajasthan Home Minister, Gulab Chand Kataria, "We've made an arrest based on the sketches released by Haryana Police. One of them is a relative of a railway employee, whom we haven't been able to get in touch with."

Senior officials of the Harayana Police on Wednesday met some top Delhi Police officials to seek their expertise in the case. Investigations so far reveal that:

• Two independent modules were used to carry out the blasts, one believed to be from Western UP and the other from Bihar.
• The explosives had allegedly been assembled in the Capital itself.
• Cross border links have been proved through certain call details.

Police are on the lookout for the man from Old Delhi who made calls from an STD booth there before and after the blasts.

These calls have allegedly been traced to a top Lashkar-eToiba operative in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

With Pakistani officials mounting pressure on Indian investigators, India perhaps needs to give some quick answers.

However, in terms of hard evidence, the police have very little to offer. Now all hope lies in hunting down that one man who allegedly made calls before and after the blasts.