Pune blast: State police clueless,probe may go to NIA

While Home Minister P Chidambaram is personally monitoring the probe,the Centre is not very happy with the pace of investigations,considering that all resources have been put at the disposal of the Maharashtra Police. Since the NIA sleuths have been camping in Pune from day one,the agency would not have to begin the probe from the scratch.

The ATS is reportedly trying to identify the three persons in the CCTV footage recorded by a camera at Hotel O,which is located near German Bakery,minutes before the blast. German Bakery’s CCTV was focused at the cashier and has only records of customers paying their bills. Much to the chagrin of the security agencies,the waiter at the table under which the IED was kept doesn’t remember the customers who sat there.

Though the ATS has been checking call data records and technical intelligence,it is still not clear whether the IED had a timer device or was set off by a remote control. Pieces of mobile phone were found on the blast debris but it is not clear whether it was part of the IED or belonged to a victim.

The one thing clear about the explosive is that it was a mixture of RDX and ammonium nitrate. Forensic labs of Andhra Pradesh Police in Hyderabad,Maharashtra Police and the NSG have confirmed this. Since ammonium nitrate has a low kindling temperature than RDX,a timer is used to ignite it,which then triggers off the high intensity RDX.

Sources in the government said forensic tests conducted by Gujarat Police showed no presence of ammonium nitrate but the report was trashed by investigators as Andhra Police and NSG labs were the best in the country.

Meanwhile,in view of the Pune blast,New Delhi will seek access to David Coleman Headley after a fresh chargesheet is filed in the 26/11 case. Work on the chargesheet is already underway and the document is expected to be filed in the court in a fortnight.