‘3 men at Churchgate spoke of leaving packets on the train’

The police have also recovered some rods from the blast sites, suspected to be pencil detonators. Along with the powder samples scraped from the walls of the compartment, the rods have been sent to the Kalina Forensic Laboratory.

The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has sought the help of the Intelligence Bureau. It was IB inputs that helped it in busting an Aurangabad-based terror cell involving SIMI members on May 10.

ATS officials said that they are scrutinising the extent of involvement of each of the 14 persons arrested so far—among them are Abdul Samad Samsher Khan (24), Mohammad Amer Shakeel Ahmad Sheikh (30) and Mohammad Akib Shiekh (24).

Officials said that Khan was the only accused who had met the key Lashkar-e-Toiba operative, Zahibuddin Ansari alias Zabby, after he fled from Aurangabad following the seizure. Zabby had sent Rs 14 lakh with Khan for carrying out a ‘plan’ which he had been briefed about.

The other two were involved in planting a similar explosive device aboard Karnavati Express on February 19 at Mumbai Central Railway station.

Officials have also intensified their search for Rahil Abdul Rehman Sheikh (24), a resident of Jostan Building near Shalimar Talkies on Grant Road. Sheikh had provided fake passports and procured a 30-day pilgrimage visa for Iran for one Fayaz, a Lashkar operative responsible for putting together the Aurangabad cell, who then visited Pakistan to finalise delivery of the arms and explosives.

‘‘‘We are treating the train blasts as a separate case. But all those who are absconding (in the Aurangabad case) and other past and present links will also be examined,’’ said ATS chief, Joint Commissioner of Police K P Raghuvanshi.

‘‘It is too premature to attribute the blasts to anyone yet. However, looking at the modus operandi of the bombers, it is possible that Lashkar-e-Toiba may be behind it. It seems that they may have been assisted by smaller organisations,’’ said Director General of Police, Dr P S Pasricha.

Two ATS teams have been sent to Aurangabad, Malegaon and Nagpur for investigations, while another team is likely to be sent to Uttar Pradesh. The Gujarat ATS is also coordinating closely with its Maharashtra counterpart.

Pasricha said: ‘‘It would be unfair to call this an intelligence failure. We knew that Mumbai, being the financial capital of the country, had become a target for terrorists. In the past two-to-three months, our intelligence has enabled us to make large weapons and explosives hauls in the state. We are not superhuman, and it is not possible to know everything.’’

In May, the ATS seized 43 kg of RDX, 200 magazines, 16 AK 47 rifles and 50 hand grenades.