Sources said Wasim has identified the two HC bombers as Saifullah and Bilal, both Lahore residents. Wasim has told interrogators that the duo is 25-30 years old. Although he has feigned ignorance about the affiliations of the two bombers with terror groups, the NIA team and the J&K Police handling the case suspect that the two could be linked with either Lashkar-e-Toiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The details provided by Wasim are seen as a breakthrough for investigators and a success for counter-terror agencies after a barren spell when the probe into a number of terror cases that started with Pune's Germany Bakery blast came a cropper. The case was seen as a challenge for the NIA. Authorities are also full of praise for the role played by the J&K Police in cracking the case.
Wasim, who has 'confessed' to having masterminded the crime to deter authorities from executing Guru, told the interrogators that he had reckoned that attack on the HC would force the authorities to put on hold the hanging of the Parliament attack convict.
A direct threat to the Supreme Court was issued for the same objective, Wasim, a medical student in Bangladesh, told the investigators.
Sources said, the chief conspirator was encouraged by the lax security arrangements at the HC. Wasim's younger brother Junaid, allegedly a Hizbul Mujahideen member and a co-accused in the case, had conducted a reconnaissance visit on the court premises in June-end when he had come home for vacation. He noticed the absence of police pickets around the complex, investigators said.
On reaching Kishatwar - his home town - Wasim discussed the plans with Junaid and his close friend Amir Ali Kamal, both of whom have eluded the NIA and the J&K Police so far. Kamal, who had studied with Wasim in Jammu, was tasked with the responsibility of organizing two bombers.
Another accused, Amir Abbas Dev, was given the responsibility of arranging two persons to send an email to highlight the "Save Afzal Guru" objective of the terror attack, which he had timed for after the Eid festivities.
Wasim, who had left for Bangladesh in July, contacted his accomplices on phone at least twice. He got in touch with the co-conspirators immediately following his return to India on August 27. He gathered from Kamal about the recruitment of Saifullah and Bilal. All the plotters congregated at a mosque on September 3 where they reviewed the preparations, with Dev informing Wasim that the email had been drafted and two persons enlisted to send it.
As instructed by Wasim, the draft, to be emailed two hours after the blast, claimed that the blast was carried out by Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami (HuJI). The choice of the name was dictated by the consideration to deflect attention away from the involvement of Hizbul Mujahideen.
The conspirators reckoned that the red herring would throw the investigators off the trail since HuJI had virtually become defunct. Wasim and others saw Saifullah and Bilal off on September 4, with the instruction that the bombers would not use phones or any other communication means to contact the other plotters.
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