The SIMI link into the serial blasts at Jaipur got deeper with the arrest of a Bangalore-based software engineer. Based on the information by the Bangalore police, the Rajasthan police picked up Rasheed, a 30-year-old software engineer, two days ago.   

Intelligence Bureau officials told rediff.com that though Rasheed was not directly involved in the blasts, but he was privy to the developments.

Sources said that they had certain leads and the interrogation of the suspects indicated that Rasheed was aware of the Jaipur blasts much before it happened.

Rasheed, who hails from Bihar, came to Bangalore in 1999 and was working with a software firm. The police said he gradually developed links with SIMI.

He also became close to Yahya Kamakutty and Shibly, both of whom were arrested recently in Bangalore and Indore respectively. Rasheed was living at Koramangala in Bangalore before he disappeared suddenly. He was never in contact with any of SIMI activists in Bangalore. There is also no record which shows that he took up another job after leaving Bangalore.

Sources said it was Kamakutty who revealed his name during the interrogation.