The Hyderabad police have made considerable progress in the investigations of the twin bomb blasts on August 25, which claimed 42 lives.
A special investigation team of the Hyderabad police has been assigned the task of investigating the bomb blasts at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat. The SIT has secured important leads about the role of Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami's south India chief Mohammed Abdul Shahid alias Bilal in the smuggling of RDX into the city.
The police suspect that Bilal was the mastermind behind the Mecca Masjid bomb blast on May 18 and the subsequent twin blasts. The police have also found clues pointing to Rizwan Ghazi, a Bangladeshi youth, who allegedly planted the bomb at Lumbini Park.
During a raid on Rizwan's rented house at Kishanbagh near Bahadurpura on Tuesday night, the police found a telephone diary with a list of phone numbers in Bangladesh, a photograph and other incriminating material. According to the police, Rizwan's photograph had a striking resemblance to the sketch of the Lumbini Park suspect.
Rizwan, who is from Bangladesh, has been staying in Hyderabad for the last six years. When he purportedly arrived on a visa, he did not appear before the Special Branch of the Hyderabad police as required under the law.
Rizwan's sister Shafia Rafsanjani, who was arrested by the Charminar police on September 1 when she tried to circulate a fake Rs 1,000 note at a Lad Bazar shop, had obtained a ration card, a driving license and a PAN card with the same address.
During interrogation, she told the police that her family hailed from South Bakulia in Chittagong district of Bangladesh and she was a student in a Vellore college.
Based on inputs from her, the police had dispatched a police party to Bangalore to nab Rizwan and two others, a Bangladeshi woman identified as Shiyak and a youth named Riyaz. It is believed that both Shiyak and Riyaz have been taken into custody, but Rizwan is still at large. The SIT is seeking police custody of Shafia again as they want to question her about new clues. The police have proof that calls were made to Pakistan a day before the August 25 twin blasts and later to Bangladesh from Rizwan's mobile phones.
The police believe that Riyaz traveled from Bangalore to Hyderabad prior to the blasts, where he stayed in Ghazi's house.
In another development, the police conducted a raid at Jadcherla in Mahbubnagar district on Tuesday and seized a huge consignment of ammonium nitrate. The police team also arrested one Santosh Reddy for illegal trading in explosives.
Acting on a tip-off, the police raided a godown in Nimmagadda bavi and found 63 bags packed with ammonium nitrate.Each bag contained 45 kg of ammonium nitrate, totaling over 2.8 tonnes. Incidentally, ammonium nitrate was used to set off the twin blasts in Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, the SIT added another name to the list of suspects wanted by the police in connection with the bomb blasts in the city. The Interpol has issued a red corner notice against 24-year-old Mohammed Amjad. He is allegedly the second-in-command of HuJI in south India. The police have booked a case of murder, attempted murder and use of weapons and explosives against Amjad.
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