IAF official arrested in connection with blasts

They said 50-year-old Zama, hailing from Nuzvid in Vijayawada district of Andhra Pradesh, was still in police custody.

CoD, probing the bomb attacks at Wadi in Gulbarga district, Hubli and Bangalore in June and July, claimed that Zama had admitted to collecting and forwarding sensitive information about location of various vital installations, defence establishments and railway bridges among others to contacts in Pakistan.

Dinakar said the CoD investigation had revealed that the conspiracy regarding the attacks in Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Karnataka was hatched at the annual `Urs’ at Deendar Anjuman Ashram at Asifnagar in Hyderabad last year.

On the last day of Urs, Syed Zia Ul Hassan, the self-proclaimed guru of the sect founded by his father Hazrat Moulana Syed Siddique Kibla in 1924, organised a separate meeting with some close followers and announced a jehad against India, he said.

"He (Hassan) urged the followers to aim at making India an Islamic country and for this, to be prepared for any sacrifice. Khaleeq-ur-Zama of Nuzwid near Vijayawada was made coordinator for these activities. Several meetings were held in this connection in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bangalore and elsewhere," according to the CoD investigation.

It said Hassan is reportedly residing in Pakistan. The ashram was established by Kibla who died in October 1952. The annual Urs are performed at his samadhi where followers from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra congregate.

The CoD have so far arrested 16 people in connection with the bomb blasts at Wadi (June 8), Hubli (July 8) and Bangalore (July 9).

Asked if the ISI was involved in the attacks and any funds were received from Pakistan, Dinakar said, "These kind of activities require a lot of money…they (members of the sect) are not doing it for a song… where this money came from…you can draw your own inference."