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HYDERABAD, August 28: 

The chargesheet in the Malegaon blasts case, where 40 people were killed and 312 injured, incidentally states that nine SIMI activists executed the attack with the help of two Pakistanis to “infuriate the entire Muslim community and trigger communal riots”.

The unexploded bomb as clue

In terms of lines of investigation, the finely grooved iron pipes used in the unexploded bomb in Hyderabad, described as being rare by NSG officials, has become an important piece of evidence for investigation in the Mecca Masjid probe, with CBI investigators scouring foundries for a possible link to the makers of the metal pipes.

CBI investigators are also trying to trace the roots of a “woman’s bag” with a ‘Made in Sri Lanka’ label used to hold one of the bombs and a man’s shirt found in one of the bags with the brand name ‘Potatoes’.

While the Hyderabad SIT, soon after the blasts, with the help of the West Bengal and Jharkhand police, tracked down the origin of one of the SIM cards used in the two Nokia 6030 mobile phones used as the timer, the leads only hit a dead end.

It was discovered that one of the SIM cards, bought in June 2006, from the mobile phone store of one Mohammed Sajjid in Jharkhand’s Jamtara district, was purchased by using the fake identity of Babulal Yadav, a resident of Rupnarayanpur in Jantara district.

On July 26, the CBI, with findings from the course of its probe, released a sketch and photograph of the two people believed to have obtained the SIM cards.

The sketch described a bespectacled man, aged 30-35 years, medium built, fair complexion, and a height of 5 feet 2 inches. The photograph described a medium-built person, of “wheat complexion,” 5 feet 6 inches in height, 25 - 30 years old.

Soon after the lookout was issued, the CBI was confronted by a man called Tarak Nath Pramanik, a yoga teacher in the Noida College of Physical Education, claiming that his photo had been wrongly released and that he had no link to the Mecca Masjid blast.

On July 30, a red-faced CBI admitted that “the photograph of Shri Tarak Nath Pramanik has been used under different names for purchase of numerous SIM cards, suspected to be used by the perpetrators of this crime...His photograph has also been used by the suspects for obtaining a driving license and Election Identity Card,” the CBI said.

Back to Babu Bhai

One of the key lines of investigation in the Hyderabad blast probe continues to be an exploration of the possible role of Shahid Bilal with known links to the Jaish-e-Mohammed, the HuJI and the LeT.

Shahid, based in Bangladesh and then Pakistan, played a central role in an October 2005 blast in Hyderabad and is known to have the expertise and reach in the City to carry out a bomb attack like that of May 18.

Though sources in the investigating agencies indicated that the Hyderabad SIT made a failed attempt to infiltrate Shahid Bilal’s network by sending a former associate and a murder accused, Abdul Sattar, 27, the SIT has strongly denied this. Sattar was reportedly caught by the border police and sent back to Hyderabad. He was shown as arrested by the local police on June 15.

“No investigating agency will take a risk like that. It is only speculation,” the Hyderabad SIT head said.

Senior police officials in Hyderabad also termed as “untrue” reports of the detention in mid-July of a man called Abdul Karim Quadri for sheltering, through April, two Pakistani and one Bangladeshi national at his home in the City. New hope for the probe has come from the arrest of a key HuJI representative Jalaluddin in Lucknow in late June by the UP police. Jalaluddin alias Babu Bhai, a native of West Bengal is being called a key HuJI operative in India. According to his interrogation statement, first reported in The Indian Express yesterday, he admitted that he transported RDX to Hyderabad.

(Tomorrow: Samjhauta Express, another probe gone off track)