Police commissioner AN Roy and KP Raghuvanshi, chief of the state Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS), met Union home secretary VK Duggal in New Delhi on Wednesday and apprised him about Inter-Services Intelligence’s (ISI) “role” in the July train blasts.
A source in the security establishment told DNA that the meeting was restricted to discussing ways to “incorporate” evidence of ISI’s involvement in 11/7 in a report to be prepared later and submitted to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
The two top officers also tipped off Duggal about the nuances, which revealed ISI’s complicity, in the “multi-layered blasts’ investigation process”.
Foreign affairs secretary Shiv Shankar Menon is scheduled to meet his Pakistani counterpart in New Delhi in November where the matter could be raised.
Menon had earlier buttressed a statement by Roy in which the top cop had said that the ISI “imprint” in 11/7 was conclusive. Roy had said not only did the ISI bankroll the subversive plan, but it also imparted “lessons to the bombers in handling explosives”. DNA had reported on Wednesday that ISI had spent Rs20 lakh to help in the execution of 11/7.
Raghuvanshi, however, refused to comment on the outcome of the meeting, saying, “We know that Rs20 lakh was routed by the ISI to fund the execution of the blasts. This was revealed to us by the arrested.”
An intelligence officer said that tracing the “terror money” trails will clearly testify to ISI’s role. It will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the terror operation was funded from foreign shores. The funds (routed through hawala channels in the form of Saudi Riyals) were used in the planning of the attacks. Another proof of the ISI hand, police maintained, is that the 11/7 was “okayed” by LeT amir (supreme leader) Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.
The blasts were also sanctioned by some top members LeT general council members.
