The number of blasts that rocked Ahmedabad on Saturday evening was revised to 21 today, with more bombs and explosives being recovered near Bangalore and in Ahmedabad and Surat. Police said SIMI hand was suspected in the Gujarat attacks.

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil was summoned by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday and asked to provide a detailed brief on the bomb blasts which struck over two days in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, leaving more than 50 dead and above 200 injured. Manmohan Singh, who also met National Security Advisor M K Narayanan apart from top officials of the Home Ministry, was scheduled to visit Ahmedabad tomorrow along with Patil and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

States across India have been put on high alert. In communally sensitive Ahmedabad, the Army staged flag marches while the Centre promised all help to the Narendra Modi Government. The Centre is planning to call a meeting of DGPs of all states soon, said Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, while a meeting of chief ministers may also be on the cards.

An activist of outlawed outfit SIMI, identified as Abdul Halim, was said to have been picked up in Delhi in connection with the Ahmedabad blasts following a tip-off by the Gujarat Police. But a Delhi Police spokesman denied any knowledge of the arrest.

Sources said as many as 100 people had been detained in Ahmedabad in raids conducted overnight. Among those picked up was Abdul Halim Maulavi, who was accused in 2003-04 of sending 33 youths from Ahmedabad to Pakistan for terrorist training. “Halim has been arrested in connection with an old case, though we may get some leads from his interrogation in the present blasts,” said a senior official.

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