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Pharmaceutical executive financed the New Delhi bombings
A pharmaceutical sales executive who is believed to be the "financier, conspirator and spokesperson" behind last month's New Delhi bombings is in police custody, authorities said Sunday.Tariq Dar was arrested Thursday in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Police Commissioner K.K. Paul said. He was believed to be helped by four other people in connection with the October 29 blasts at two crowded marketplaces. A third explosive device was left on a bus and detonated after it was removed by the bus driver. In all, the bombings killed nearly 60 people and injured more than 200. Paul said the blasts were the work of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group which has carried out previous attacks. Dar was brought to New Delhi on Friday and has been remanded into police custody for 14 days, Paul said. Police said $12,000 was deposited into Dar's bank account a few days before the blasts, coming from the Middle East. Dar also visited New Delhi between October 4 and 6, Paul said. The rapid detonation explosive RDX was used in all three of the blasts, police said. Lashkar-e-Taiba has denied any responsibility for the bombs, according to news reports. A spokesman for the Pakistani-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, on Tuesday called the accusations "completely baseless and false," The Associated Press reported. A little-known Kashmiri group, Islamic Inquilab Mahaz -- which took credit for the blasts -- has ties to Lashkar, officials said. But in a phone call to a news agency in India-controlled Kashmir, the spokesman said his group does not target civilians, AP reported. "Lashkar does not believe in carrying out attacks against civilians, especially women and children," Abu Huzaifa told the Kashmir News Service. "We reiterate that Lashkar had no hand in the Delhi attacks." Two other militant groups also denied involvement in the attacks. The denials came a day after India's prime minister told Pakistan's president there are indications of foreign links to the New Delhi bombings and reminded him of his country's pledge to fight terrorism. "We continue to be disturbed and dismayed at indications of the external linkages of terrorist groups with bombings," Manmohan Singh said during the conversation with Pervez Musharraf, according to a press release from his office. The release also said Singh told Musharraf that "India expects Pakistan to act against terrorism directed at India." The Pakistani leader had called Singh to express his condolences for the attacks. At a news conference in Islamabad, Musharraf called the New Delhi bombings a "most dastardly terrorist attack." "I would like to give the total and unequivocal support from Pakistan in any investigation the Indians would like to carry out," he said. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-11-13 |
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