Man who attacked Israeli diplomat’s vehicle has already left India: Police

“The conspiracy was hatched in January 2011. Kazmi collected all the information about the diplomat’s vehicle, including the route it usually took,and passed it on,” a senior police officer said.

Police sources claimed Kazmi was paid in dollars for passing on the information. “He had some knowledge (of the plot) but there were several gaps in it. Those gaps were known to others in the group. The entire task was not handed over to a single person,” the officer said.

Police sources claimed Kazmi hung around the Israel Embassy and noted down the CD registration number of the Toyota Innova. He was said to have passed on the details.

The sources said police worked “backward” for a breakthrough in the case,got details of the “executioner” and then reached Kazmi via technical surveillance.

The New Delhi blast took place the day a bomb was discovered on an Israeli diplomat’s car in Tbilisi,Georgia. The next day,three Iranians accidentally blew up their house in Bangkok,Thailand. Israeli authorities said the similarity between the Bangkok explosives and the two earlier bombs linked Iran to all three incidents.

But Indian officials refused to assign blame,saying investigations were on. Even after Kazmi’s arrest,the Ministry of External Affairs refused to “draw any conclusions”.

“As you are aware,investigations are underway in this case… The investigators are pursuing various leads… and our understanding is that no conclusions can be drawn at this stage,” MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters in response to queries.