Bomb blast probe kept under wraps

Mumbai police are investigating the involvement of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in the Ghatkopar bus blast on Monday that claimed two lives and injured 34 people.

"We are investigating the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) angle as the pattern of the blasts are to some extent similar to the way this outlawed body is known to operate," a top investigator told a foreign news agency.

The Maharashtra state government as well as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government have banned SIMI and arrested many of its cadres in the last few years.

Material used in the medium-intensity bomb, which exploded on Monday in the rear of a public transport bus, was being studied, he added. A second bomb was found on another bus and defused.

"A lot will depend on what explosive was used and which terrorist or underworld group normally is known to use it. Only then can a proper assessment be made," the police investigator said.

"The police over the last two years have sealed most of the SIMI offices in the city and the state, but we are investigating their various links here, especially with the underworld," he added.

The state government is tight-lipped and is not revealing much except that "our police officers are going ahead with the investigations and believe they could come up with answers in a short time|", Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal told the media yesterday.

Asked about the police comment that SIMI had a hand in the explosion, he replied, "The police have not said anything of this kind, and until there is proof we have no right to comment on this issue."

He pointed that it was better to complete the investigation rather than jump to premature conclusions as in the case of the murder of cassette king Gulshan Kumar some years back.

The police had then mentioned the involvement of Bollywood musician Nadeem Saif in the killing to the media. Nadeem, who was in London, approached the courts there when the Indian government tried to extradite him.

Eventually, the government lost its case since the London court accused the Mumbai police of bias against Nadeem even before the inquiry was completed.

He also said no preventive arrests have been made following the bomb blast.

Explosives in the Ghatkopar bomb and the defused one in Andheri indicate that they were possibly made by the same people or group with local materials. The use of gelatin sticks in the bombs which had timer devices indicated that it could be the handwork of locals. No RDX, a powerful explosive, was found in any of the bombs.

With the approach of the tenth anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6 and further trouble expected, the government has announced a red alert across the state by starting with combing operations and checking on road junctions.

Police have, meanwhile, launched a manhunt for seven persons who boarded the bus at Jagducha Nagar on Monday evening and got down near a circle at Ghatkopar station before the bus proceeded towards the last stop where the explosion occurred.

The police have obtained descriptions of some of the passengers who were in the back seat. Sketches of the suspects have been prepared.

Meanwhile, the state cabinet approved the formation of a Quick Response Team that would receive training on the same lines as the National Security Guard to counter all kinds of terrorist attacks.

The 56-member specialised team would be in place in four to five months time and the government has allocated Rs15 million for the training.