In a major breakthrough in the investigation in the serial bomb blasts at BJP’s Hunkar Rally, probe agencies have arrested one more suspect.
Investigators revealed that Indian Mujahideen (IM) paid Rs 10,000 each to eight local youths to plant the bombs in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on Sunday. With the arrest of Tabish alias Arshad from Alaula village in East Champaran, three people have been arrested in the case so far. One of them was severely injured and is battling for his life in hospital after the bomb he was planting a battery in accidently exploded in a toilet at Patna Railway Station.
Tabish was said to be in constant touch over phone with Imtiyaz Ansari who was also arrested from the Patna Railway Station on the day of the rally. Ansari reportedly told investigating agencies that IM operative Tehsin Akhtar recruited eight local Muslim youths from different lodges in Patna’s Pirbahore locality and paid Rs 10,000 each, to plant the bombs. Ansari confessed that he, along with Ainul and Akhtar had come to Patna with 18 bombs, which they handed over to the recruited youths.
Both Ansari and Akhtar had visited Patna several times before the Hunkar Rally and stayed at various localities in Patna like Sabzi Bagh, Bhanwar Pokhar and Naya Tola under Pirbahore Police Station. It was there they met local youths and tried to convince them to become jehadis with the aid of inflammatory literature, CDs and books. On Sunday all of them reached Mithapur bus stand and distributed the bombs among the eight youths.
Source said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was one of the targets of the blasts and the code word for identifying him was Machli 5.
Now, the biggest challenge before the investigating agencies will be to apprehend the local youths involved in the crime. Ansari confessed they had planned the blasts at the Patna rally after the Bodh Gaya blasts in July. Investigators have found watches of the lotus brand used in both the blasts.
Police sources said some more arrests have been made from Aurangabad, Kaimur, Samastipur and border areas of the State. Meanwhile, JD(U) leader Taqui Akhtar, who is the uncle of the mastermind of the Patna blasts Tahseen Akhtar alias Monu, disowned him and sought severe punishment for him. “After division of our ancestral property in January 2011 at Maniyari Village, we have no ties with him or his family,” Taqui Akhtar, JD(U) district general secretary told reporters.
Akhtar added that he had already stated this fact in a complaint he lodged at Kalyanpur Police Station after Monu left home. Monu’s grandfather Mohammad Jahrul Haque had retired as a police Inspector. His father Wasim Akhtar, a marginal farmer, is the eldest of five brothers and Monu is the eldest among three sons.