Hyderabad Blasts Probe Moving In Circles?

It is more than three weeks that twin blasts in Dilsukhnagar rocked Hyderabad but the investigation appears to be moving in circles. The response of the investigating agencies to the 2007 Mecca Masjid, Lumbini Park-Gokul Chaat Bhandar bomb blasts and the Dilsukhnagar tragedy bears striking similarities. Chinks in intelligence were laid bare each time and now, once again, the probe is being taken up with blinkers on. 
    
It was in October last that the Delhi police had informed their counterparts in AP that Syed Maqbool, the suspect they had picked up from Shaheen Nagar in Hyderabad, and his associate Imran Khan had recceed Dilsukhnagar, Abids and Begum Bazaar in August for a possible IM attack. The Delhi cops even went public with this information through amedia release. 
    
According to sources, the state Counter Intelligence Cell (CIC) and Maharashtra ATS were not in favour of picking up Maqbool, a former convict who they had under their watch. The Delhi police, however, bypassed their concerns and whisked him away. Hence, when the Delhi police claimed that Maqbool was involved in Pune bomb blast case, the Maharashtra police did not accept their stand and showed no interest in taking Maqbool into custody. Similarly, the CI Cell here decided to ignore Maqbool’s reported confession on IM recce. The city police, on the other hand, claimed that after receiving information on recce, it intensified searches in these areas but could not sustain beyond a few weeks. For the CI Cell and the city police, Maqbool, a fruit-seller, did not have the capacity to undertake any significant assignment. A father of three, he lived in Shaheen Nagar and was mostly seen in Malapket and Saidabad neighbourhoods. Besides, whenever required, he was reportedly cooperating with the CI Cell and the city police. 
    
The National Investigation Agency brought Maqbool and Imran from Tihar Jail to Hyderabad recently and took them around the city besides putting them to hard questioning. They yielded no new information. 
    
Obaidur Rahman, a city youth who was arrested by Bangalore police in a so-called conspiracy case, is also under the NIA scanner. It is strange since the Bangalore conspiracy case itself has become a mockery as its alleged ‘mastermind’ journo Mutiur Rahman and few others have been released as they were found innocent. Another person Aijaz Ahmed Mirza, a DRDO scientist, has been let off on bail in the same case after the investigators failed to substantiate their allegations against him. 
    
Soon after the blasts the city police went on an overdrive and picked up every person who were said to be associated with Maqbool. In their misplaced enthusiasm, the police made the same mistake they had committed in 2007. In mafialike surprise raids, they whisked away persons stealthily and interrogated them at unknown places. Through their illegal methods they have created an atmosphere of fear, especially in the Old City.s 
    
The sole premise on which the case is now being probed is that it is the handiwork of Indian Mujahideen. The modus operandi, Maqbool and Imran are said to be the main source of this belief of investigators. They have found no other evidence. They did not find the timers used in the explosives, nor did they discover where the bicycles came from. Everything is as hazy as the shadows captured on the CCTV cameras. 
    
A senior police officer who was a close observer of the botched up investigation of 2007 incidents said, “Someday, somewhere, some agency sleuths will catch the perpetrators of the Dilsukhnagar blasts by accident. We have to wait till such time.”
    
What say? Golden words?