Bangalore blast: Police arrest three from TN

Three persons were arrested in Chennai late on Monday in connection with the blast near the BJP party office in Bangalore last week, according to media reports. The arrested persons were identified as Peer Mohideen from Bangalore and Basheer from Tirunelveli.

The third accused Kitchen Buhari was arrested on Tuesday morning.

With the arrests, carried out in tandem with the Bangalore police and other law enforcement agencies, authorities claimed to have cracked a new terrorist module that had not been previously known to exist.

According to a police officer quoted in The Hindu , the two persons arrested had played a “vital role” in the blast. They had been tracked down on the basis of mobile phone call records of suspects in the Bangalore blast.

Mohideen and Basheer were identified on the basis of two computer-aided portraits of two persons drawn from inputs provided by the person who sold the motorcycle that was alleged used in the blast. Based on those portraits, a Bangalore police team arrived in Chennai on Sunday and carried out investigations alongside the Tamil Nadu police.

The chassis number and engine number of the motorcycle too provided crucial leads that led up to the arrested persons, reports the Indian Express . The chassis number led the police, through the vehicle manufacturer, to its first owner, R Prakash, a resident of New Perungaulthur near Chennai. From Prakash, the police traced the second buyer, who had identified himself as Anwar Basha, but had allegedly used fake identity proof.

Police also probed the call details relating to ‘Basha’s’ mobile SIM card, which then led them to others he was in touch with, who too  were using SIM cards bought with fake identities.

Police officials claimed that while the terrorist module in Tamil Nadu had been identified as having been responsible for the Bangalore blast, it wasn’t immediately clear where they learnt to put together the bombs and plan out the attack.

Initial suspicion for the Bangalore blast had centred around the Indian Mujahideen, particularly since the lastest blast occurred on the anniversary of the Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in 2010. But reports claimed that  sources involved in the investigation had failed to establish any links with the Indian Mujahideen so far.