Even as the CBI on Monday started fresh investigations into the May 18 blast at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, the Special Investigating Cell (SIC) of Hyderabad Police, set up to probe the blast, made a major breakthrough when one of the arrested accused “confessed” that he had brought the explosives used in the blast.Shoheb Jagirdar (38), a resident of Jalna in Maharashtra, told his interrogators that he had delivered the explosives to Hyderabad which were later used in the blast at the mosque killing nine persons and wounding 53 others.According to sources in the SIC, Jagirdar had on May 29 confessed during sustained questioning that he had delivered the "bag full" of explosives in February this year to the city. He, however, did not reveal the identity of the person to whom he had delivered the explosives to and told his interrogators that he had never seen him before. Jagirdar, a former member of the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in Jalna, was functioning at the behest of Nayeem, suspect investigators. But Deputy Inspector General of Police (SIC) Harishkumar Gupta refused to comment as the case has now been handed over to the CBI.Sources said though Jagirdar had confessed to having delivered the explosives, they could not book him in the case as investigations were still in progress to gather evidence in this regard. "We cannot book anybody in a case based on his confession. We were in the process of gathering further evidence when the case got transferred," said a senior SIC officer. Officers of the SIC, who investigated Jagirdar's involvement, said more than ideological reasons, he had got involved in the conspiracy because of money.Jagirdar, who was the first person to be arrested in connection with the case by the SIC, has since been remanded in judicial custody and the CBI will now have to procure his custody from the court to question him further for revealing as to how he had come in possession of the explosives and how he had brought them to the city.A SIC team had on May 25 arrested Jagirdar from Jalnawhere he owned a meat shop and during his questioning found that he had not only delivered the explosives but had also tried to procure a passport for Nayeem by getting fake documents prepared. He was subsequently booked for criminal conspiracy and under the Passports Act.The Hyderabad police on June 8 arrested Nayeem in connection with the blasts but as his role in the blast was yet to be ascertained, he too was booked under the Passports Act and in the same case as Jagirdar.The SIC had zeroed in on Jagirdar on the basis of the details revealed by a SIM card of the cellphone which was used in the blasts. The SIM card was found to have been sold by one Mohammed Sayeed of Jorasanko area of Kolkata to an unidentified person on the basis of a driving licence of one Babulal Yadav who was later found to be non-existent. West Bengal police traced Sayeed to Jamtara district in Jharkhand on the instructions of Hyderabad Police.
