Cellphone records bring UP suitcase thieves into Bangalore blast probe

Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari called them suitcase thieves on trains but five persons picked up by the police in Hubli in north Karnataka....

Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari called them suitcase thieves on trains but five persons picked up by the police in Hubli in north Karnataka on Tuesday night have also been identified as suspects in the Chinnaswamy Stadium blasts. They are being brought to Bangalore.

Said Bidari: We had information they left Bangalore on the night of April 17 and were in Hubli. Theres a case registered against them in the Upparpet police station here. They are from UP and came frequently to Bangalore for suitcase thefts.

But sources said the five were detained at the Sree Rama Residency hotel by the Hubli police on the basis of information provided by a man identified as Imran who was picked up by the police on the night of April 17 in Bangalore while attempting to leave the city on a night train.

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Based on Imrans leads and his mobile phone details the police found that his five associates were in the Hubli-Dharwad region on April 18. The mobile phone trail,tracked down to Dharwad,went dead on April 19 and police were alerted to investigate all outsiders at hotels in Hubli-Dharwad.

The arrested men were in Rooms 97 and 104 and had registered in the name of Sunil Rai and Mohammed Irfan from Ghaziabad in UP.

Sources said that the six men,including Imran,had checked into a hotel near the stadium a day before the blast and call details of their mobile phones showed their presence near the stadium around the time of the blast.

UP ADG Brij Lal said that the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) has been coordinating with the Karnataka police. Joint Commissioner (Crime),Bangalore,Alok Kumar said that the mens role was yet to be verified. A senior UP ATS official said that four of the men are from Meerut and are Muslims and two from Bijnore are Hindus.

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Details collected from their native places revealed that they used to routinely leave their respective homes for over a month or so each year. No criminal records were found from the local police stations in Meerut and Bijnore against the youths.

Though the Bangalore police have declined to confirm or deny reports of a suspect in their custody since April 17,police officials from different parts of the country are knocking on doors here requesting to question the suspect, an apparent reference to Imran.