With the Anti Terrorist Squad of Rajasthan Police making a possible breakthrough in Ajmer blast, the CBI has joined the probe to ascertain role of arrested persons with the 2007 Mecca Masjid terror strike in Hyderabad.
Official sources said a joint team of ATS, CBI and central security agencies were questioning two of three arrested persons -- Davindra Gupta and Chandrashekar -- in connection with their possible involvement in the Mecca Masjid blast.
The role of the duo was purchasing of SIM cards and timer devices which were used to trigger the blast in Ajmer on October 12, 2007.
Two pilgrims were killed and nine others, including a child, were injured in the terror attack when a crude bomb went off at the sufi shrine of Khawaja Moinuddhin Chishti in Ajmer where thousands of devout had gathered to break their day-long Ramzan fast.
The low-intensity improvised bomb which was kept close to Aasthan-e-Noor went off a minute after the period of fast ended, indicating the similarity of execution timing with the Malegaon and Mecca Masjid blast.
The probe had suggested that modus operandi, nature of explosives and the kind of bomb used in the Ajmer blast resemble Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad, the probe of which is being done by CBI.
The low-intensity improvised bomb which was kept in a tin box, with a packing of iron pipes, in Ajmer was similar to the contraption used in the Mecca blast, the sources said.
CBI was refraining to comment on the issue officially, but the sources said a team had moved in to question the duo and their links with some of the accused identified by the agency in connection with the Mecca blasts.
Five persons died in the blast and nine in the subsequent police firing outside the mosque on Friday when thousands of Muslims gathered for prayers on May 18, 2007.
Rajasthan ATS had been working on the links of Abhinav Bharat, an extremist group which is alleged to be behind Malegaon blasts.
A team of the state police had recently visited Mumbai to collect full statements and reports of narco-analysis and brain mapping tests done on Lt Col S P Purohit and other accused in the Malegaon blast cases, the sources said.
Purohit, an alleged mastermind of the Abhinav Bharat group had told investigators during narco-analysis and brain mapping tests that another member Dayanand Pandey, also an accused in the Malegaon blast, had planned the Ajmer attack, they claimed.
The team which met officials of ATS Mumbai collected call details of Purohit, his detailed interrogation report besides other documents pertaining to investigations in the Malegaon blasts after which surveillance was mounted on Gupta, the sources said.
The Abhinav Bharat group came into picture during the investigations of the Malegaon blast. The ATS probe headed by its former chief Hemant Karkare, who was killed during the Mumbai attack, had brought out alleged role of the group members in the planning and execution of the blast. PTI
