Malegaon: Police sniff link with Mumbai train blasts

Police suspect Lashkar-e-Taiba's top commander Abdul Raheel Sheikh to have masterminded the terror plot. Pics

A cocktail of RDX, ammonium nitrate and petroleum hydro-carbon oil was used in Friday’s serial explosions in Malegaon, Nashik police said on Monday — the combination was also used in the attacks on Mumbai’s commuter trains on July 11.

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The report from the Nashik police's forensic laboratory, however, needs to be confirmed, said superintendent of police Rajvardhan. “The findings will be confirmed only when we get reports from two other forensic laboratories, including the NSG's facility,” he said.

Investigations have thrown up another link between the two terror strikes. Nashik and Mumbai police suspect Lashkar-e-Tayyeba's top commander Abdul Raheel Sheikh to have masterminded the terror plot in the textile town. Raheel is the “prime suspect” in the 11/7 attacks.

He had stayed in Malegaon for a few weeks before finally escaping to Bangladesh in the second week of May this year, sources said.

Police believe Raheel could have visited Malegaon to “issue instructions” to a large number of “active” members of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), present in Malegaon and the adjoining Jalgaon and Aurangabad districts. “The needle of suspicion is increasingly pointing towards the SIMI and the Lashkar,” said a senior officer.

Police also released a sketch of the third Malegaon blast suspect. There is a possibility, said sources, that the man bought a cycle from a local shop.