Investigators in the Mecca Masjid bomb blast case say that Shoaib Jagirdar, the Jalna man arrested for supplying RDX to the bombers, has confessed to delivering the explosive. They also say that he was a link in a “much longer” supply chain, and that the explosives were originally smuggled over the Pakistan or Bangladesh borders. Jagirdar has been remanded to judicial custody by a Hyderabad Court.

According to officials, the bomb that exploded contained about 300 gm of “military grade RDX”. “By examining at the bomb that did not explode we can say it was about 300 gm,” a senior police official said.

Jagirdar reportedly told the police that he had obtained about 1.5 kg of the explosive. Police said he gave a part of it to the perpetrators. Police officials also said Jagirdar may not have had any direct links with the bombing, but “he provided the RDX for the blast. That is enough”.

According to the police, Jagirdar got the RDX from another source. A senior official said the source of the RDX was “from over the border.” “We have got some clues (from Jagirdar) and we are working on them,” Hyderabad Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh said. He declined to say if the police had identified the people from whom Jagirdar sourced the RDX, or the people to whom he sold it.

Police were also investigating links between Jagirdar and LeT operative Shaikh Samir alias Abdul Nayeem. Nayeem, at present in custody in Mumbai, reportedly smuggled four Pakistani nationals into the country. Police officials said he visited Hyderabad in February this year and could have brought the Mecca Masjid bombers to the city. Hyderabad Police obtained his narco-analysis report from the Mumbai Police, and officials were studying it.

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