May 27, 2007
Hyderabad Blast Probe
Drawing to Naught?
Hyderabad
The probe into the blasts at Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid seem to be
drawing a naught with the police saying that the lone suspect
arrested may not be linked to the terror act at all.
No evidence has been found linking Shoaib Jagirdar, a butcher
arrested last week from Jalna in Maharashtra, to the blast case.
Police, however, claim that he had attempted to secure a fake
passport for Sameer alias Nayeem, an alleged operative of the
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).
A case under the Passport Act has been filed against Shoaib, 52, who
was interrogated by the Special Investigation Cell (SIC) probing the
blast.
The blast at the 17th century mosque on May 18 during Friday prayers
claimed 11 lives, while five people died in the subsequent police
firing on protestors. Three other bombs were found and defused in
the mosque premises.
Shoaib's arrest was initially seen as a breakthrough and police
sources had claimed that he transported RDX to Hyderabad for the
blasts.
A statement from the police commissioner's office late Saturday said
Shoaib had visited Hyderabad in February along with Sameer and they
stayed together in a house. They also contacted a passport agent for
obtaining a fake passport.
"Prima facie the complicity is established for attempting to procure
a fake passport by furnishing fake documents on a fake address for
militant purposes," the statement said.
But it did not establish any link between Shoaib and the blast.
Sameer was arrested along with three other LeT operatives in West
Bengal while crossing the India-Bangladesh border in April this
year. He is in judicial custody in Mumbai and reportedly told
Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) about his links with Shoaib.
Further, the SIM card of the mobile phone attached to one of the
unexploded bombs, which was seen as a major clue, has also not been
of much help as police said it was bought on fake documents. They,
however, found that it was bought in Asansol in West Bengal.
The probe will now soon be handed over to the Central Bureau of
Investigations (CBI), as recommended by the state government on May
24.
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