The accused, Mohd Asraf, had conducted a recce ahead of the 2011 Delhi High Court blast.

New Delhi:

The Pakistani terrorist arrested by Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Tuesday had conducted recce at various sites in the national capital, sources told news agency ANI.

The accused, Mohd Asraf, had conducted a recce ahead of the 2011 Delhi High Court blast.

“During interrogation when a photograph of an accused in the 2011 Delhi High Court blast was shown to him, he disclosed that he had done a recce of the High court. However, his involvement in the blast cannot be stated clearly. It will be clarified on further investigation. There is no evidence as of now,” sources close to the developments said.

Apart from this, Asraf had also done a recce of the Police Headquarters (Old Police Headquarters) located at ITO. “He revealed that he has done a lot of recces but not much information could be gained as he was not allowed to stop outside the police headquarters for much duration. He had also done a recce of ISBT and information was sent to Pakistani handlers,” sources said.

It was also revealed by Asraf that he did a recce at India Gate and Red Fort as well. “He has said that he did a recce at 10 places,” sources said.

“In the interrogation, he said that VIP areas were not among the targets as casualty would have been less. All these recce were done a few years ago. He has not revealed as yet the places where he wanted to undertake a terrorist operation,” they added.

At present, the investigating agencies are interrogating him about whether he has been involved in any blast in Delhi.

Mohd Asraf, a resident of Pakistan’s Punjab province was held from Laxmi Nagar. Police had seized an AK-47 rifle from his possession among other things including a grenade and pistols.

He had obtained forged Indian national ID from a village sarpanch in Bihar, informed sources.

They said that the accused revealed in the interrogation that he entered India by first going to Bangladesh and then travelling to Kolkata in West Bengal. He visited Ajmer Sharif, where he met people from Bihar whom he accompanied to their village and took refuge there. “In Bihar, he gained the trust of a sarpanch and obtained his Indian national ID from him,” said sources.

After the arrest, relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Explosive Act, Arms Act and other provisions have been invoked against the man.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)