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Nepal-based ISI agent behind UP blasts

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

A notorious Nepal-based agent of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence is suspected to have been the brain behind the three blasts in Uttar Pradesh on Independence Day.

Top police officials, investigating the blasts, including one on the Sabarmati Express that killed nine people, claimed they have conclusive evidence about the direct involvement of the Nepal-based agent. The agent's close relative was a member of the Nepalese parliament until he was gunned down two years ago.

Two men arrested in Gorakhpur on Friday in connection with the blasts confessed that the Nepal-based agent was the ISI front-man. Both were experts in making timed explosive devices.

The police also suspect the involvement of local cracker manufacturers in providing supplies to extremists. "These traders can be used as a safe cover for delivering explosive consignments," a senior official said.

The Lucknow police have launched a massive search operation in the premises of cracker dealers. Though nothing incriminating was found so far, Special Task Force Senior Superintendent of Police Arun Kumar told rediff.com, "You cannot rule out anything. The cracker shops should checked as a matter of routine and not only when something drastic happens."

The police have established a similarity between the blasts in Kanpur and Lucknow. Both were timed-devices. The blast on the Sabarmati Express near Faizabad is still being investigated and police are awaiting the findings of forensic experts.

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