Two persons, picked up by the police in connection with the Varanasi blasts, were freed after eyewitnesses failed to identify them, a senior police official said in Varanasi Monday, ending confusion about their whereabouts.

"The district police released the two suspects on Saturday after interrogation and handed them over to their family members," Senior Superintendent of Police G K Goswami said. The two -- Sadiq Ali and Ansar -- were picked up by police in Hardoi Friday after their faces resembled the sketches prepared by the police on the basis of eyewitnesses' account.

• 8 detained in connection with Varanasi blasts

Confusion prevailed about whether the two had been released or not after Uttar Pradesh Home Secretary Alok Sinha and Hardoi police took contrasting positions.

• 2 blasts rock Varanasi; 20 dead

While Sinha, principal secretary (Home) said Sunday in Lucknow that the two suspects had not yet been released, the Kotwali Circle Officer in Hardoi Visarjan Singh Yadav had said that Ali and Ansar had been freed and handed over to their family members.

The witnesses to the blasts in Sankat Mochan temple and Varanasi Cantonment rail station failed to identify Sadiq Ali and Ansar, whose faces resembled the released sketches of the terrorists suspected to be behind the explosions.

Ali and Ansar were paraded a number of times before the two witnesses.