Dar admits role in hawala, denies part in blasts

In a boost to the Delhi police in the serial blasts case probe, accused and Lashkar-e-Tayiba militant Tariq Ahmed Dar Friday admitted before a Delhi court that he was associated with ultras and transferred hawala money on commission basis but denied any role in the explosions.

He also admitted that it was he who had called up a news agency to deny Lashkar's role in the blasts, which killed 60 people and injured 200 others, on being asked by a friend who was an activist of the outfit.

Following the revelations, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Madhu Jain asked him whether he would like to turn an approver in the case and gave the police 14 more days' time to interrogate him.

"I swear by God I played no role (in the blasts)... If there is an iota of evidence against me you may hang me... My only guilt is that it was I who issued the message denying Lashkar's role in the blasts," Dar said in an unexpected 45-minute admission to the court during which he occasionally broke down.

Dar, an official with a multinational pharmaceutical firm, told the court that a friend of his, associated with Lashkar, had gifted him a cell phone in August 2005 after he provided him medicines for hernia.

After the blasts, the same friend approached and asked him to call the media and deny Lashkar's role in the blasts.

"I shouldn't have done that. I had committed a blunder and I was caught just because of this", he said.

Dar said he "was a part of the on-line hawala transaction for which he took ten per cent commission for each transfer" but did not know the source of the money and for who and what purpose it was meant.

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