Same IM module likely behind Pune, Mumbai blasts

The bomb used in Dadar, one of the three sites of the serial blasts that hit Mumbai on Wednesday night, was placed in an electric box, sources told rediff.com on Thursday.

The other two bombs were placed in a motorbike and in a car at Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House respectively, they said.

The use of ammonium nitrate, fuel and timer devices to assemble the bomb has been confirmed by Home Minister P Chidambaram.

Reportage: Toral Varia

Complete coverage: Mumbai blasts, July 13, 2011

The current leads in the investigation point to the same module of Indian Mujahideen that was responsible for the German Bakery blast in Pune, sources in the Anti-Terrorism Squad told rediff.com.

Investigating officials are trying to track the whereabouts of suspected IM operatives Mohsin Chowdhury, Fayaz Kagzi and Zaibuddin Ansari.

Mohsin's brother Akbar is in the custody of the Gujarat police for his suspected role in the Ahmedabad serial blasts. He is currently being interrogated by Gujarat ATS officials for any possible leads.

For months on end, the Maharashtra ATS has been unsuccessful in tracking Mohsin and his associates.

Mohsin is a resident of Pune and is suspected to be involved in the Mumbai serial blasts.

The Maharahstra ATS has been trying to crack down on the module that carried out the Pune blast for over a year.

According to sources, the arrest of Himayat Baig, the only suspect held in connection with the Pune blast, was merely a tactic to buy time while the police continued to hunt for his more important associates.

Meanwhile, the presence of a car at the Opera House blast site has led the investigators to intensify the interrogation of Irfan and Raja, the two suspected IM operatives arrested by the ATS recently. Both of them were arrested for supplying cars that were used in the Surat and Ahmedabad blasts.

According to reports, Pune ATS officials have started tapping their informants in the Kondwa area, which was once a stronghold of the IM.

ATS officials in Gujarat, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh are training their guns on the scores of IM operatives arrested earlier in their states to get information on the Mumbai blasts.

Incidentally, recently the Maharashtra ATS suffered some embarrassment when Abdul Samad, who it arrested from Mangalore airport for his involvement in the Pune German Bakery blasts case -- Home Minister P Chidambaram even described it as a "major breakthrough" -- was granted bail by the Mumbai sessions court for lack of evidence in a 2009 arms seizure case he was booked for (and not the Pune blast case).