The government is making efforts to gain access to a few Iranian nationals for questioning in connection with the February 13 bomb attack on the car of an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi. We are in touch with the Government of Iran and the Iranian Embassy in Delhi in order to be able to access certain persons for questioning in connection with the attack. The Ministry of External Affairs is dealing with the matter, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Saturday. He refused to identify the people that New Delhi was trying to gain access to,and did not say if they included the Iranian citizen detained by Malaysia on suspicion of plotting a similar bomb attack against Israeli diplomats in Bangkok. A city court had earlier this month issued non-bailable warrants against three Iranian citizens who,the investigators suspect,are responsible for the conspiracy and execution of the attack. Meanwhile,journalist Syed Mohammed Ahmad Kazmi,arrested for his alleged role in the attack,on Saturday sought bail from a city court saying he had been incarcerated for a crime that he did not commit. Kazmis counsel told Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav that his client had been caught by police only because he has been vocal about views on certain issues and political matters. My (Kazmis) opinion on certain issues cannot make me a conspirator to the crime, he said. The counsel also argued that the Special Cell of the Delhi Police had completed its investigation and had approached the court two days prior to his police custody was to expire on March 27,stating that further custodial interrogation of Kazmi was not required. Kazmi argued that since he had a family,he would not leave the city if he was granted bail. Public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan,however,said there are restrictions on giving bail to a person accused under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. He also said the investigation was still on and police had records of telephone conversations between Kazmi and other accused. The matter will now come up for further arguments on April 2. Kazmi has also moved an application seeking details of officials who interrogated him in police custody,as,his counsel said,police have been silent on whether IB and RAW sleuths interrogated him. The court asked police to file a reply.
