Mumbai ATS in Bengaluru to assist blasts probe

A team of the Mumbai Anti Terrorist Squad has arrived in Bengaluru to probe the serial blasts and also to provide assistance to their counterparts in Karnataka.

Investigators in Bengaluru told rediff.com they are probing various angles behind the blasts and at present the main suspicion is on the dreaded banned outfit Students Islamic Movement of India.

Since there is a suspicion that the SIMI was involved in the blasts in Mumbai too, the Bengaluru police feel that it would be helpful if the two teams worked in tandem.

The two teams will look into the activities of the SIMI and also the statements of the various SIMI activists who were arrested in Karnataka.

The statements by the SIMI cadres in Karnataka led to the arrests key SIMI activists in Indore.

The Information Bureau said that the chief of SIMI Safdar Nagori, who was arrested in Indore, had a direct link to the Mumbai blasts and there is every possibility of him providing more clues regarding the recent blasts in both Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.

Meanwhile, the Bengaluru police continued to question several youths who have been detained in the city.

Although no breakthrough has been made as yet, the police are hopeful of getting vital information from these youths who have been detained.

A team also headed out to Hyderabad to question a couple of arrested youths who are believed to be part of the Indian Mujahideen, which is very much part of SIMI.