By IANS
Hyderabad : With the arrest of Bangladeshi Rizvan Gazi in Bangalore, police here are hopeful of a breakthrough in their investigations into the Aug 25 twin blasts, which killed 44 people.
Gazi, 22, who resembled the sketch of the suspected bomb planter at Lumbini Park, was reportedly arrested by a Hyderabad police team in Bangalore late Wednesday and is likely to be brought here soon.
The suspect, whose sister Shareefa Rafsanjani was nabbed here Sunday, had narrowly escaped arrest on two occasions during the last four days. The two were staying illegally in the city for six years now.
Investigators believe Rizvan’s interrogation could help in cracking the Aug 25 blasts, the worst-ever terror attack in Andhra Pradesh, and also the May 18 blast at the historic Mecca Masjid, which had claimed nine lives.
Rizvan, who was staying in a rented house in Kishanbagh in the old city, had reportedly made phone calls to Pakistan a day before the blasts and to Bangladesh afterwards. The investigations also revealed that calls were made to Bangladesh from mobile phones after the blasts from near Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat, the scenes of the blasts.
Rizvan might be the man who made phone calls after planting the bomb at the park. Police sources said if this was established, his interrogation may also help police to identify the other bomb planter.
Sheikh Abdul Kaleem alias Rafi has reportedly stated during a narco analysis test in Bangalore on Wednesday that the blasts culprits were still hiding in the city. Kaleem, who is an accused in the suspected suicide blast at police commissioner’s task force office here in 2005, provided dozens of SIM cards to terror operatives.
Hours after Kaleem’s revelations during the narco test, police arrested two people – Mohammed Javeed and Mohammed Ali – on the suspicion that they sold mobile phones to terror operatives. They were arrested Tuesday evening from Jagdish Market, which has a large number of mobile phone shops. Tension prevailed in the area as traders staged a protest against the arrests.
The duo was among 10 people arrested by police Wednesday on suspicion of having links with terrorists. They included Syed Ahmed Qureshi, brother-in-law of Abdul Shahid alias Bilal, who is believed to be the mastermind of the May 18 and Aug 25 blasts as well as the 2005 suicide attack. Bilal, commander of Bangladesh-based Harkat-Ul Jihad Islami (HUJI), is believed to be in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Syed Imran Khan, another suspect who underwent narco test in Bangalore, revealed that 10 kg of RDX was brought to the city in February this year on Bilal’s orders. The explosives were stored at his house in Bowenpally and were later distributed among terror modules.
Imran Khan, an executive with a corporate bank, was arrested on charges of providing shelter to Shiekh Nayeem alias Sameer, a native of Maharashtra, who was later arrested in April along with three others while crossing into India from Bangladesh and brought to Hyderabad in June in connection with the mosque blast.