Hyderabad blasts: police gets image of bomb blast suspect from traffic signal camera

Hyderabad, Feb 23 : With most of the CCTV cameras non-functional in Dilkhush Nagar, the Cyberabad police has struck paydirt by getting images of a bomb blast suspect from the traffic signal camera which was found to be working. A senior police official told the newspaper The Hindu that this could prove to be a major breakthrough to get clues about the bomb planter. The report quoted sources as saying that the suspect is in his erly thirties, and is seen riding a bicycle at 6:38 pm and going towards one of the blast sites.At 6:45 pm, the suspect is seen returning on foot, after parking his bicycle carryig the IED near the kerb. There were two blasts on Thursday at 6.58 p.m. and 7.01 p.m. The bicycle had a bag hung to its carrier, which the police believe had an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).The suspect is clad in a full-sleeved shirt and green trousers. The bicycle he rode appeared to be old, says The Hindu report.“The bicycle was the one typically used by labourers. The bag could have contained the IED,” a police officer said. The face of the suspect was, however, not captured clearly. “It would be easy for someone who had seen him earlier to recognise. But for a stranger it would be difficult to describe the facial features,” the cop said.Special police teams are going through the images with the minutest of detail. The police is facing an uphill task, with clues gone awry because of continuous movement of bystanders, mediapersons and politicians at the scene of blast, as the place was not cordoned off. The investigators have however begun interviewing eyewitnesses, businessmen and others working in the shops on the road. Police believe that this exercise may yield useful information and help them prepare a portrait of the suspects who planted the IEDs. Police officers were also going into the possibility of the terrorists having cut the wires of some CCTV cameras, after they were told that the wires of a CCTV camera near a shop were found cut.The sequence of the blasts was also reconstructed. Forensic experts believe that the two devices could have been hung on the carriers of two old cycles, whose mangled metal frames were found at the sites. “It appeared as if the IEDs had been hung nearly three feet high from the ground. This could be to ensure that they were not immediately noticed,” a forensic expert told The Hindu.“The injuries [to the victims] were mostly below the waist while some lost limbs. Casualties could have been higher if they had placed the IEDs on the seats as the flying shrapnel would hit their heads,” the experts said.“We have some clues. We will catch them soon. Any person providing information leading to the arrest of the accused will be rewarded and his identity kept secret,” Cyberabad Commissioner Ch. Dwaraka Thirumal Rao said.Two cases have been registered in the Malakpet and Saroornagar police stations, which are on the borders of the Hyderabad and Cyberabad Police Commissionerates.