Intelligence agencies and the State police have found important clues about the involvement of Indian Mujahideen (IM) in Sunday’s serial blasts at the BJP’s ‘Hunkar Rally’ in Patna.
Probe agencies are looking into inputs that there was a plan to blow up two “human bombs” at the rally to cause maximum casualties.
Imtiyaz Ansari who was taken into custody at the Patna Railway Station has reportedly revealed the whole conspiracy and probe agencies are trying to corroborate his statement with facts.
Separate teams of NIA and NSG are probing the blasts from different angles. Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde is also scheduled to visit Patna on Tuesday. Imtiyaz, a resident of Dhruva in Ranchi, has told officials that one Tehsin Akhtar provided him with all the resources to plant the bombs at the Patna rally.
Sources said six people split into three groups were assigned the job of planting the low-intensity bombs. The motive was to cause a stampede which would have taken hundreds of lives.
The investigating agencies and Ranchi Police raided Ansari’s house in Ranchi and found a lot of Islamic literature, including a book carrying photographs of Osama Bin laden. Besides, Rs 5 lakh has also been found from his residence, said the investigating officials.
Reports claim that the bombs were assembled and packed at Ranchi, and 12 to 13 people were involved in the exercise. “Two people have been arrested and several others detained in connection with the blasts. We’re investigating it from all angles and are likely to crack the case within the next two to three days,” said a senior police official.
Imtiyaz told the police that each of the six people assigned the task of planting and carrying out the explosions were paid Rs 5 lakh in advance by Tehsin Akhtar.
Akhtar, an IM operative from Samastipur district of Bihar carries a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head. His name had also cropped up when the dreaded IM terrorist Yasin Bhatkal was arrested from the Indo-Nepal border a few months ago. Police sources said Tehsin Akhtar is an intelligent youth who operates under the guise of a tourist guide and often visits tourist destinations to recce them for the purpose of triggering blasts there.
Imtiyaz confessed that IM triggered the blasts at the BJP’s rally to avenge the Muzaffarnagar riots. Along with Imtiyaz Ansari his accomplice Ainul alias Tariq was also arrested from the Patna Railway Station. Ainul was critically injured while fixing a battery in the bomb inside a washroom at the railway platform. He was admitted to hospital. Unconfirmed reports however claim he has already succumbed to his injuries.
Reports said that both Imtiyaz and Ainul were supposed to be human bombs assigned the task of blowing themselves up near the dais in Gandhi Maidan. But, the bomb went off at the platform itself when Ainul was fixing the battery.
Meanwhile, refuting Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s statement on Sunday that there were no Intelligence inputs regarding the incident, sources in the Intelligence Bureau have said that the investigating agency had warned the State administration about the possibility of such blasts at the rally through a letter on October 23 itself.