Key bomb-maker on the run

Delhi Police's Special Cell is still looking for the unidentified man behind the bombs used in Bangalore and the over two-dozen bombs with technical faults recovered in Surat, reports Abhishek Sharan.

Delhi Police's Special Cell might have already identified the bomb-maker from among the 14 members manning the Delhi-based module of the Indian Mujahideen led by Atif Ameen aka Basheer. But it is still looking for the unidentified man behind the bombs used in Bangalore and the over two-dozen bombs with technical faults recovered in Surat in late July.

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"The absconding Sajid," said a senior Special Cell investigator who requested anonymity owing to the 'sensitive' stage of the probe, "was the one who made the bombs that were used in the Delhi blasts. His signature included the use of a cheap, analog quartz watch of Samay brand as timers for the IEDs".

He added: "But the man who made the bombs in the July 25, Bangalore blasts, and the defective bombs recovered in Surat had a different signature since he had used integrated circuits as delayed timers for the bombs".

The use of the ICs, commercially available as delayed timers used in washing machines, was a first in India though the Al Qaeda in Iraq had used them in the recent past.

Joint Commissioner Karnal Singh said: "Atif led all the IM modules, one of which is the one that carried out blasts in Delhi and Ahmedabad. But the Surat aborted terror attack and the Bangalore blasts were probably done by separate modules, again led by him."

Looking for IM’s Lashkar link

The cell is currently hot on the chase of a terror suspect, from Madhya Pradesh, who has been identified as the man who forged the suspected three-way alliance among the IM, SIMI's pro-jihad faction led by Abdus Subhan Qureshi, and the LeT, according to a senior investigator.

The police are also looking to track the men who trained Atif and Sajid.