Hyderabad blasts: Karnataka police picks up clues from Hyderabad student in custody

HYDERABAD: Claiming to have vital clues to identify those behind the Dilsukhnagar blasts, a top investigation team of Karnataka police, led by chief of the state's anti-terrorism cell (ATC) Jitendranath, reached here on Saturday to assist the city police as well as the NIA and other teams that are probing the serial terror attacks.

According to sources, the Karnataka team gathered some clues following interrogation of Hyderabad-based student Obaidur Rehman who was picked up in connection with the 2008 serial blasts in Bangalore in September.

Rehman, nephew of controversial cleric Maulana Mohammed Naseeruddin of Saidabad, was picked up from his residence in Misrigunj of Old City and is currently lodged in Bangalore central jail. "Obaidur Rehman had spoken of terror teams scouting various crowded places in Hyderabad and what he said matches with what the Delhi police gathered during questioning of IM operative Syed Maqbool, currently lodged in Tihar Jail," the sources said.

According to them, Obaidur Rehman and Maqbool are part of the same network that is linked to the local modules in Hyderabad, suspected to have executed the Dilsukhnagar blasts. "Both Obaidur Rehman and Maqbool have independently hinted at the existence of sleeper modules in Hyderabad. The focus now should be on cracking down on these local terror modules," the sources said.

While the advisory issued by central agencies to Andhra Pradesh in November last year was based on the inputs given by Maqbool and his IM accomplice Imran Khan, the Karnataka police sources said Obaidur Rehman, too, confessed to his links with one of the three modules that planned to unleash terror in Hyderabad.

"After questioning the accused (Obaidur Rehman) in our custody, we came across certain leads that we think will help crack the Dilsukhnagar blasts;" Jitendranath told TOI. He said another team from Bangalore is expected to reach Hyderabad on Monday.