Hunt on for elusive IM activist,explosive supplier

Meanwhile,the police have identified the owner of the scooter at Zaveri Bazaar on which the bomb was placed under an umbrella.

Investigators are trying to identify and trace a suspected key member of the Indian Mujahideen who is believed to be the source of the explosives used by the outfit in all their attacks.

This shadowy figure,who remains unidentified after the interrogation of several arrested IM members,is said to be a common thread in blasts carried out across the country by the group,sources said.

Besides Riyaz Bhatkal,his brother Iqbal,Yasin Bhatkal and Mohsin Chaudhary,there is another important operative of the IM whom we could not locate in previous crackdowns. This man has repeatedly supplied explosives to the outfit from a quarry near Bhatkal town and Udupi in Karnataka, said a senior Mumbai Police officer who took part in a major crackdown against the IM in 2008 and who is also a part of the ongoing blast probe.

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The IM members already arrested have not divulged this operatives name,as they claim Riyaz was the one who was directly in touch with him, said the officer.

Officers also disclosed that two IM operatives arrested in 2008,Ahmed Abubakr Bawa and Mohammed Naushad Mohammed Irshad Sayyed,had ferried explosives from Bhatkal and Udupi but never had direct contact with Riyazs source.

Sources also said that cellphone activity around the three blasts sites for leads. They were looking for anomalies such as cellphones showing activity at these locations prior to the blasts,which have fallen silent since.

Meanwhile,the police have identified the owner of the scooter at Zaveri Bazaar on which the bomb was placed under an umbrella. According to the police,the scooter belonged to a shopkeeper in the area who is being questioned. Preliminary investigations suggest that the bomb might have been planted on the unattended scooter after it was parked.

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After a severed head found at the Zaveri Bazaar blast site fuelled speculation about a suicide bombers involvement,the victim was identified as a labourer,Kishan Shivcharan Mandal,by his family.

The Director General of National Investigation Agency S C Sinha on Friday returned to Delhi with a cache of CCTV footage. In all,11 CDs have been handed over to the NIA. An e-mail which originated from outside the country is also being looked into.

The agency is seeking help from states,and an NIA team carried out raids at Ranchi at the house of two IM operatives. The officials said they had also sought help from UP police and Bangalore cops.

Raids were also carried out at the house of IM operative Danish Riyaz,arrested recently by the Ahmedabad police. The NIA team is looking for an associate of Riyaz,identified by some accounts as Manzar Imanuddin. The NIA team questioned the family members of the two for several hours and seized hard discs and certain documents.

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Sources said that the probe is focused in UP and Bangalore as IM cadres have been traced to these areas in the past.