Though Ghazi was initially said to be a key link in the investigation of cases related to the bomb blasts at Mecca Masjid on May 18 and at Lumbini Park on August 25, the Hyderabad Police did not connect him to the blasts when they produced him in court on Friday.

Ghazi’s name was linked to the terror probe after his Kishanbagh home was searched by the police on the basis of intelligence reports soon after the August 25 blasts.

His sister Shafia Rafsanjani, a student at Vellore, was picked up on September 1 from the house when she reportedly came visiting. She has also been accused of staying in the country illegally.

Ghazi reportedly landed in the police net around the same time as his sister but the Hyderabad Police had been maintaining that he had given them the slip.

“It is still early to rule out his role in the blasts case. He has stayed in the country illegally for six years. He has obtained an election ID card, driving licence and ration card using forged documents. He has been charged under the Passport Act for obtaining an Indian passport with the other documents,” Assistant Commissioner of Police (Charminar area) B Reddana said.

“A man called Masiluddin who lived with Ghazi, and who left Hyderabad soon after the May 18 blasts, is of interest to us and as a result Ghazi too. We would like to know where he has gone and his antecedents,” a senior police official said.

Information from mobile phones used by Ghazi and his friends are being explored in an effort to find links to the blasts, police sources said.

No material linked to the two different types of bombs used on May 18 and August 25 have been found around Ghazi’s living quarters or elsewhere, police said. No motives for participating in the terror attacks had also emerged so far. In the second week of September, the Hyderabad Police had announced the search for three other Bangladeshi nationals connected with Ghazi, who lived at his Kishanbagh home over the past six months.

They included Masiluddin (24), a second man called Hussaini (18), who reportedly disappeared around August 29, and Ghazi’s 12-year-old brother Irfan Ghazi.

Police said Masiluddin left Hyderabad soon after the May 18 blasts that killed nine people while Hussaini left after the August 25 serial blasts that killed 43 people.

Ghazi who was produced before a metropolitan magistrate on Friday was remanded to judicial custody till October 5. At the court he said he was innocent.