Probe crawling, Andhra may turn to CBI

While the Andhra Intelligence Branch has a list of over 170 suspicious characters who are believed to have terror links in the state, sources said more than 70 of them could not be traced.

These people had earlier been charged for crimes like conspiracy against the country, under the Arms Act and Explosives Act.

The Hyderabad Police recently constituted a Special Investigation Team to inquire into the case.

Additional Commissioner of Police Harish Gupta, who is heading the blast probe, admitted: “We have not made any arrests as yet. We have got some clues and are working on them.”

While the West Bengal Police have reportedly detained three people, including one that allegedly sold a SIM-card to the bombers, the Andha cops said they were not working in collaboration with them. “We have not received any official word from them as yet,” Gupta said.

Police commissioner Balwinder Singh also denied that any police teams from the state had visited West Bengal.

The final decision on handing over the case to the CBI rests with Chief Minister Y S R Rajasekhara Reddy, and he is still to make up his mind. Sources, however, said he was likely to announce something after the Hyderabad Police submit a report after preliminary investigations.

A team from the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, which is investigating the Malegaon blasts, visited Hyderabad yesterday. The two explosions are believed to be linked. The team reportedly exchanged information and visited the site of the blast.

Police suspect the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HUJI) is behind the Mecca Masjid attack.