Four picked up for Jama Masjid blasts

Four persons have been picked up for questioning by the police and central security agencies about the two crude bomb blasts on Friday.

Four persons have been picked up from the Jama Masjid area for questioning by the police and central security agencies about the two crude bomb blasts at the 17th century mosque on Friday evening.

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Official sources said while two were picked up late on Friday evening, another two were picked up during the surveillance around the Jama Masjid on Saturday morning.

Among those picked was a man from Bihar who could not explain as to what he was doing around the place. His antecedents where being checked from Bihar.

The other three were the local residents and had been picked up after their activities were found suspicious, the sources said.

The agencies were exploring the possibility of finding some links with Abdul Karim Tunda's gang as the chemical composition — Potassium Chlorate and Sulphur mixed with acid — was used by him during the 1997 blasts in the national capital.

The two chemicals were concealed in a small container at the two places around the water pond inside the historic mosque. Though the same mixture is used for manufacturing of detonators, the one used today was completely in its crude form and could only blacken the surface where it was planted, the sources added.