One more held in Patna blasts case,NIA takes over probe

A psychology graduate,Tabish has reportedly told interrogators that he was aware of the blasts plan.

In another arrest in the Patna blasts case,Tabish,25,was picked up from his village of Alaula under Kalyanpur police station in East Champaran on Tuesday night.

A psychology graduate from a Ranchi college,Tabish has reportedly told interrogators that he knows key accused Imtiaz Ansari,who has been arrested,and was aware of the blasts plan. Tabish,however,is reported to have said he was not in Patna at the time of the blasts.

According to sources,Tabish claimed that Ansari rang him from a landline number on Sunday morning and told him to go away to Nepal,which is about 90 km from his village. Tabish is reported to have met Tehseen Akhtar alias Monu,said to be an aide of alleged Indian Mujahideen terrorist Yasin Bhatkal,and Haider,another suspect,through Ansari.

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Sources said a devoted team of radicals led by Akhtar was behind the blasts. Akhtar recruited youth from Ranchi,Haider from Aurangabad and Tabish from Motihari.

Further interrogations may reveal the complete IM module being led by Akhtar. This module is different from that led by Yasin Bhatkal. Akhtar was getting orders from Riyaz Bhatkal in Karachi,sources said.

Ansari,who is reported to have stayed in Patna on October 10-11,is alleged to have offered Rs 10,000 each to some local youth for their support. It is not clear if these youths helped plant the bombs at Gandhi Maidan.

NIA sources said that in several bombs that were defused,the timer devices were fitted wrongly; the clocks had stopped in some; in others they were not connected to detonators.

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PTI quoted Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde as saying that the case had been handed over to the NIA.

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