Sticky-bomb Iranian suspect linked to Bangkok plotters,India dials Tehran

While the Delhi Police had obtained warrants against three other Iranians,including Irani,today they got an NBW against Masoud.

For the first time,the Delhi Police today linked an Iranian suspect in the attack on the Israeli diplomat in Delhi with a Bangkok module that was planning a similar attack in the Thai capital.

The Iranian suspect in the Delhi case,Houshang Afshar Irani,was reportedly in regular touch with Sedghatzadeh Masoud,a member of the Bangkok module who was arrested in Malaysia. It was while tracking the phone calls between them that investigators reportedly stumbled upon Urdu journalist Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi,who was in touch with Irani.

In its first diplomatic contact with Tehran on the February 13 blast,India today called Iranian ambassador in New Delhi Syed Mehdi Nabizadeh and sought the countrys cooperation in catching the Iranian suspects in the case. New Delhi had been careful not to name the Iranian link so far despite Israels insistence.

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The police believe it was Irani who attached explosives to the vehicle of the Israeli diplomat in Delhi,leaving her seriously injured. Hours after the blast in Delhi,Irani left for Malaysia on February 13 from the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Masoud was arrested in Kuala Lumpur on February 15. He was part of the group that was allegedly trying to target Israeli nationals in Bangkok when they accidentally blew up the house they were assembling a bomb in,a day after the Delhi attack. Another suspect got injured when a bomb he tried to throw bounced and hit him.

While the Delhi Police had obtained warrants against three other Iranians,including Irani,today they got an NBW against Masoud.

We got details of three men of Iranian origin involved in the terror attempt in Bangkok. While two men were arrested in Bangkok,the third suspect (Masoud) was detained at Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia. The same module was operational in Delhi and was being controlled by Masoud, said a senior police officer.

The other two accused in the Delhi attack,Syed Ali Sadr Mehdian and Abolghasemi Mohammad Reza,left the capital before the blast. The return ticket of Mehdian was booked by Kazmi. Documents to this effect have been seized from the travel agency concerned, said B K Gupta,Delhi Police Commissioner.

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According to police,Kazmi first met Mehdian when he went to Tehran in February 2011. Kazmi said that in 2011 he went to Iran twice at the instance of Mehdian. There he also met Reza. He was asked to provide assistance in India to their associates as and when required. He was paid $5,500. It was at Mehdians instance that Kazmi met Irani in Delhi and both then recceed the Israeli Embassy. They used the Scooty purchased by Irani for the recce, said Gupta.

Police said Kazmi had received foreign remittances. Till date his wife has received Rs 18.78 lakh in her account and Kazmi got Rs 3.8 lakh,for which they do not have any satisfactory explanation, said Gupta.

Police have approached the Enforcement Directorate and Financial Investigation Unit to probe the source of the foreign remittances.