Cops search Patil’s home,seize passport

Patil’s neighbours say he was reclusive,many didn’t know his name till Wednesday

Investigators carried out searches at Dayanand Patil’s house in Uruli Kanchan early on Thursday and confiscated a passport which,according to police sources,bears record of his visit to Jordan during 2003-2004. Patil is the sole injured person in the low intensity blast on J M Road on Wednesday evening and the police are probing his role in the blasts.

Patil,33,who is being interrogated for carrying the bag that contained a bomb,is admitted at Sassoon Hospital. His wife Satyakala was brought to Deccan police station for inquiry around 2.30 am on Thursday. She was earlier questioned by the Loni Kalbhor police in Pune rural.

Besides Patil,a few persons,including his neighbors,owner of a dry-cleaning shop on Shirole Road from where Patil operates,and those who accompanied him on his foreign trip are being questioned. Sanjivkumar Singhal,joint commissioner of Pune police,however,refused to give details of Patil’s interrogation.

Sources from the team that searched Patil’s house said,“His passport shows that he went to Jordan in 2003 and stayed there for a year. We are not sure about the purpose of his visit.”

Patil stays in a one-room house in Mehtre Chawl in Uruli Kanchan with his wife,three-year-old daughter Kirti and eight-year-old niece Deepali. He is apparently a tailor working with a dry-cleaning shop in Pune.

According to his neighbors,Patil came to Uruli three years ago. The chawl residents Patil as a reclusive man who they saw only twice a day — while leaving his house early in the morning to catch a train to Pune and when he returned from work at night. Many didn’t know him by name till Wednesday.

“The family speaks Kannada. While he can converse in Marathi,his wife knows little Marathi or Hindi. Though he was living in the house next to mine for over a year-and-a-half,I didn’t even know his name. Sometimes,we took the same train to Pune but he kept to himself. His wife seldom interacted with women in the neighbourhood,” said Padurang Jagdale,Patil’s neighbour.

Anwari Sheikh,another neighbour,said,“The police scanned through bags,boxes,bed and other items in the house. They found nothing except a passport,which they took with them. Satyakala wanted to take her daughter but police didn’t allow her. The girl and Patil’s niece are with us since last night.”

“Patil’s family is poor. At times,Satyakala would request me to give her left-over mid-day meal,” said a local Anganwadi teacher.

The owner of the dry-cleaning shop,Sharada Chavan,told Newsline,“He has been working here for the last two years. He is a hardworking person. He’s not my employee,but runs his business here. He carries a white plastic bag with an empty 10-litre water can in it every day. As the water at his house is not potable,he fills up the can at Uruli Kanchan station.”

Isolated from other patients

A day after the blasts,Dayanand Patil was shifted to the disaster cell of the Sassoon Hospital. Isolated from the other patients,the section remained tightly guarded. Dr D G Kulkarni,medical superintendent,Sasson Hospital said,“All his tests were done. He is fine and no objects were found in the stomach.” He refused to give further details.