NIA set to reopen 2005 Varanasi blast case

Sources said Bhatkal has denied any role in the blast but said it was an IM operation.

Sources said Bhatkal has disclosed that Azamgarhs IM module,led by Sadiq Sheikh and Dr Shahnawaz,had planned serial blasts at Dashashwamedh Ghat and Kashi Gyanpeeth. Sadiq had allegedly sent 18 kgs of plastic explosive PETN from Mumbai through an IM man,Sarfuddin,for the twin blasts. The explosive was kept at another IM operative Arif Badrs electrical goods repair shop at Sarai Mir in Azamgarh. A day after the explosive arrived,Sadiq too reached Sarai Mir and he and Atif Ameen used six kgs of PETN to assemble two bombs with three kgs each in steel containers.

According to Bhatkals revelations,Atif Ameen and Dr Shahnawaz planted the two bombs on the footpath near Dashashwamedh Ghat and Kashi Gyanpeeth on February 23,2005.