Varanasi bomb blast: Man detained at Mumbai airport after anonymous call

The Mumbai Police are questioning a middle-aged man who was detained before he was about to board a flight to Bahrain

The Mumbai Police are questioning a middle-aged man who was detained before he was about to board a flight to Bahrain at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Saturday after the CISF received an anonymous call saying he was involved in this months bomb blast in Varanasi.

Senior officers told The Sunday Express that they had found no connection yet between the man and the December 7 blast in which two people were killed and suspect that the call could also have been a prank to harass the passenger.

The man was detained by the CISF during the security check based on the details they had got from the call. He is being questioned at the Sahar police station after the CISF personnel handed him to us. At this stage,it is not fair to even release his name as it is information based on an anonymous call, said DCP Satya Narayan Chaudhary.

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Police sources said that the man held an Indian passport and was in India on vacation. He has been working in Bahrain for the last seven years and was in Mumbai to meet his wife and son. The probe so far hints that there is a personal angle to this anonymous call. The questioning will continue until we are convinced, said Police Commissioner Sanjeev Dayal.

The blast at a crowded bathing ghat took place during the evening Ganga aarti and injured more than 30 people as well. Minutes later,the Indian Mujahideen sent an e-mail from an unsecured WiFi connection in Mumbai claiming credit for the attack and saying that it was in retaliation for the Babri Masjid demolition.

In Uttar Pradesh,DGP Karamvir Singh said he was not aware of anyone being picked up in Mumbai for the attack and added that the UP Police were yet to declare anyone as wanted in the case and the probe was on.

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