Hyderabad blues: Of fake notes, RDX and hoax calls

By M H Ahsan & Swati Rao

HYDERABAD: Twenty-four hours after two blasts ripped through the city on Saturday evening, many questions are emerging. On Saturday, hours before the blasts, the city police seized Rs 2.36 crore in counterfeit notes that they now say was smuggled into Hyderabad by an ISI-sponsored group linked to Dawood Ibrahim.

"Three consignments of Indian currency have been brought. It has originated from Pakistan and via Dubai it has been brought to India,” says Hyderabad Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh.
Police sources say the ISI had smuggled counterfeit currency and RDX into Hyderabad in March through hawala channels - all meant for sleeper cells of the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami.

Sources in the intelligence bureau have also not ruled out the possibility of a suicide bomber deployed to trigger off the blasts. After the Mecca Masjid blast, the city police had received four hoax calls warning about bombs being placed in various corners of city everyday. Police now suspect that the calls may have been made to gauge just how well they were prepared. Details of those calls are now being dug out.

Police say RDX and an explosive called Neo Gel 90, suspected to have been bought in Nagpur, was used in the blast, along with ball bearings purchased from Bibinagar. Investigators are waiting for the forensic report on the unexploded bomb that was found in Venkatadiri theatre.