As PM calls for calm,cops probe new leads

Meanwhile,in one of the first leads into Thursday’s blasts,police have identified the make of the two bicycles on which the bombs were placed. Sources involved in the probe said investigators sifting through the physical evidence at the blast sites have been able to identify the make of the two mangled bicycles as an Atlas and KW bicycle. The sources said the bicycles were both second-hand.

Police are now trying to track if any such bicycles were sold,rented or stolen in Dilsukhnagar or the nearby areas,working on the theory that they were unlikely to have been transported from very far due to the risk of being caught during transportation. They are looking at points of sale/ renting for second-hand cycles and putting the word out for missing Atlas and KW bicycles.

In past investigations of bomb blasts involving the Indian Mujahideen,like the Jaipur case of May 2008,where brand new bicycles were used to place bombs,investigators obtained leads that later acted as evidence from the points of sale of the bicycles. Investigators hinted that the identification of the makes of the cycles was being viewed as a promising lead to work with.

Investigators also acknowledged that the IEDs used for the blasts probably contained “shaped charges” to create an upward directional effect for the bombs. This technique is known to have been frequently used by the Indian Mujahideen in a series of boat-shaped IEDs in 2007 and 2008.

However,Thursday’s bombs seemed to have a charge shaped for a vertical effect rather that a horizontal effect as in the IM cases from six years ago.

Meanwhile,police today reportedly detained four persons for questioning. Two of the four were released at night.

Mohammed Raisuddin,who was arrested after the Mecca Masjid blast in 2007,was reportedly picked up from his home in Hashimabad of Chandrayangutta area by some officials in plainclothes at 9 am. Raisuddin,30,works as a driver and small-time meat supplier,according to his cousin Mohammed Nasiruddin. “People in plainclothes came this morning and spoke with Raisuddin for a few minutes. They told his mother that they were taking him and he would be back by 2 pm. But he has not returned yet,’’ Nasiruddin said.

Among the other three who are reported to have been detained are Azmat Khan,a resident of Malakpet,Ibrahim Junaid Ali,an Unani medicine doctor,and Rashid Qayam. Ali and Qayam,who were also detained after the August 2007 blasts at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat but were acquitted of all charges by court,were released at night.

Police also analysed CCTV footage of several hotels and lodges in Dilsukhnagar,including a hotel near the blast site. Officials were keen to know more about the identity of two occupants of the hotel’s room no 303 who checked in on February 20 and left the next evening,before the blasts.

The Hyderabad police are also doing a search of the surrounding areas of the blast sites to find out if any people who were there until a few days ago have gone missing.

‘Blasts reaction to Kasab,Afzal execution’

KOLKATA: Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Sunday said the twin blasts in Hyderabad could be a “reaction” to the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Mumbai attack convict Ajmal Kasab. Shinde said the government was apprehending some sort of reaction from terror groups following execution of the lone surviving Pakistani gunman in the 2008 Mumbai attack and Afzal and it had been issuing alerts in this regard. “We were expecting that after the two executions,some reaction had to come,” Shinde said. Shinde said the culprits involved in the Hyderabad blasts last Thursday which killed 16 persons and left over 100 injured would be booked soon.

PTI