Hyderabad police team in Mumbai to probe twin blasts

Hyderabad, Nov 17 (IANS) While the Hyderabad police are awaiting to know from Maharashtra whether Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit and other suspects in the Malegaon bomb blast were also involved in the Mecca Masjid blast, a city police team has left for Mumbai to probe another terror strike here.

Hyderabad police commissioner B. Prasad Rao told IANS Monday that they have not so far received any information from the Maharashtra police linking the serving army officer and other suspects in the Malegaon bomb blasts with the Mecca Masjid blast.

Nine people were killed in the explosion during the Friday prayers at the historic mosque here on May 18 last year.

'We are not supposed to interrogate them unless we get some information about their possible involvement in Hyderabad blasts,' said the police commisisoner.

The Mecca Masjid blast case, being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has not been solved even after a year.

No person directly linked with the blast was arrested though the police picked up dozens of young local Muslim men on suspicion.

The investigating agencies first blamed Pakistan- and Bangladesh-based terror groups for the blast at 17th century mosque, but after the recent arrests of some activists of rightwing Hindu groups by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra, they are looking into these elements' likely involvement in the mosque blast.

The city police chief said a police team was in Mumbai for investigations into the Aug 25 twin blasts at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat in Hyderabad, that killed 43 people Aug 25 last year.

The police team is likely to interrogate suspected Indian Mujahideen activists Akbar Ismail Choudhary and Aneeq Shafeeq Syed.

The two, arrested recently by Mumbai Police along with others, reportedly confessed that they planted the bombs to avenge the blast at the Mecca Masjid. They allegedly blamed Hindu groups for the blast at the mosque.

The late-night, low-intensity bomb explosion in Malegaon town of Maharashtra Sep 29 claimed six lives. Ten people, including Purohit and two Hindu sadhus, are in the ATS custody for their alleged involvement in the blast.