The Rajasthan police has put together a sketch of one of the people it suspects was behind Tuesday’s terror blasts in Jaipur. The man depicted in the sketch is believed to have purchased one of the cycles used in the attacks from a local shop in Jaipur.
The Jaipur police on Wednesday evening zeroed in on a shop called Santosh Trading Company in Kishanpole market which is believed to have sold an “Enron” cycle to the suspect on the day of the bomb attacks. Police sources revealed that six cycles of different brands, used in the blasts, were purchased between 11 am and 2 pm on Tuesday afternoon.
The sketch released by the police revealed a well-built person around 25 to 26 years of age. The interrogation of the shop owner revealed that the person parted his hair in the middle and “spoke in a Bengali accent”. These fresh revelations reinforce the claims of the security agencies that the Bangladesh-based Harkut-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI) was behind the blasts, the sources said.
While three of the bicycles were “Hero Rangers”, the rest were of a different make, said the police sources. The Rajasthan police suspects that all the cycles used in the blasts were purchased from Kishan Pole market. The police is also questioning other cycle sellers to come up with sketches of other possible suspects.
The police sources revealed that the bombs that were carried on the bicycles were made of a deadly cocktail of RDX and ammonium nitrate. The bombs, each weighing 1.5 kg, were filled with cycle ballbearings made of iron before being wrapped in white plaster bandages, said the sources.
Clock timers were used to trigger the bombs, which were placed in plastic bags. Central security agencies are also probing the possible use of Neogel-90, an explosive used for commercial purposes, in the blasts.
The intelligence agencies have already started analysing STD and ISD calls made from Jaipur over the last 48 hours to establish if there are any international linkages behind the blast. The IG (Jaipur), Mr Pankaj Singh, said the eight blasts occurred in close proximity of each other.
“All the bombs weighed around 1.5 kg. The presence of RDX and ammonium nitrate has been detected, though the quantity of ammonium nitrate is more. The use of cycle ball-bearings in the bomb makes the bomb more dangerous,” Mr Singh said.
The use of cycles bears a striking resemblance to the Malegaon blasts in Mumbai and the blasts in three courts in UP last year, the police sources said. Police officials suspect the same outfit may be behind all three terror strikes — in Mumbai, UP and Jaipur. “There have been eight blasts at six places. Besides, one live bomb has been defused,” said the ADG (law and order), Mr A.K. Jain, in Rajasthan.
The use of RDX in the bombs has become a fresh cause of concern for security agencies. Intelligence officials revealed that around a year ago a special task force from UP arrested one Jallaludin, alias Babu Bhai, who was the northern area commander of HuJI in India.
Though his interrogation did not provide much in the way of information, Jallaludin’s associate Naushad told the police that the outfit had distributed 80 kg of RDX between various HuJI operatives across the country. The intelligence officials said so far only 40 kg of this RDX has been recovered. The security agencies fear that the RDX used in the blasts may be a part of that supply and much of it may still be in the hands of the terrorist group.