Residents of Delhi’s Seemapuri are in shock after learning that a military-grade RDX was used in the improvised explosive device (IED) which was recovered from Old Seemapuri on Thursday.
People expressed their dismay that even though the suspects had been living in the area for a long time but no one even noticed.
Speaking to ANI, Rekha, a woman living in the house just opposite to those of the suspects said, “I have been living here for about 12 years. Three to four boys aged around 20 to 22 were living here for the last two months. They used to wear white round caps on their heads.”
Rekha told that the boys rarely stepped out of their homes and never talked to the neighbors. “They did not talk, therefore cannot say much about them. The window of the boys’ room is clearly visible from our roof, but mostly the boys used to keep the window closed and seldom opened it and looked outside. We never realized that they can do this kind of work,” she said.
Zakir Hussain, who lives in the same neighborhood said that no one in the area had any inkling that something like this was happening in their neighborhood. On Thursday, when he recalled that panic had spread in the area after people came to know of the IED. “At that time, everyone was having food in his housewhen police asked them to vacate their homes. About two dozen houses around that house were evacuated. Initially people did not understand why they were asked to do so but when they found out people vacated their houses in fear and some stayed away from their houses for about five hours.”
“At present, the police force is deployed in the area and there is an atmosphere of peace prevailing in the area,” he added.
However, not many people living in and around old Seemapuri wanted to speak to the media as they are still panic-stricken from Thursday’s incident.
Investigators in the Old Seemapuri Improvised Explosive Device (IED) recovery incident are probing any support extended to the suspects by local residents. A pattern and similarities between Ghazipur IED recovery and Old Seemapuri are being drawn to zero in on other suspects.
On Friday, National Investigation Agency (NIA) teams also inspected the spot.
Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana told the media on Friday that there are similarities in the IED that was recovered in Ghazipur on January 17 and the one recovered and neutralized in Old Seemapuri on Thursday.
“As per probe, these IEDs were prepared to cause blast in public places…such activities are not possible without local support,” Asthana said.
“Special cell and investigative teams are on it; we’re probing forward and backward linkages. We’re trying to pre-empt every such incident in Delhi and expose any local/foreign network. I cannot reveal any further details which may hamper the probe,” he added.
The Delhi Police have stepped up security in the area. We have put up barricades and sealed the house. The evidence of a crime has been preserved. “The local police have also done the verification of tenants in the area especially the verification of the house on the first floor of the building as part of the Republic Day security drills and a local inquiry has also been conducted by the local police,” the officer said.
Uttar Pradesh ATS and Delhi Special Cell is also at the spot for the investigation.
The Delhi Police Special Cell had conducted a search in a house at Old Seemapuri to establish any linkage between Ghazipur and Old Seemapuri IED recoveries. The Special Cell team also retrieved all the CCTV cameras installed in and around the building in Old Seemapuri and those footage are being analysed to get clues, a senior police officer said.
Further probe in the matter is underway. (ANI)
