Patna blasts: Injured suspect dies in ICU, police blame IM

One of the suspects in the Patna blast, who was critically injured in one of the blasts, has succumbed to his injuries. The man had been earlier identified as one Ainul, and it was believed that he had been injured while attempting to plant one of the bombs. He had been in the ICU of one of the city hospitals. The police are currently interrogating a man identified as Imtiaz Ansari who was caught as he was trying to plant more bombs. According to the  Times of India , Ansari, a resident of Ranchi, was apprehended at the railway station just after the first two bombs went off. He was apparently planning to plant some more bombs but panicked when he saw the police and bomb disposal squad. On being challenged, he tried to flee but was arrested. [caption id=“attachment_1197799” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PTI[/caption] Bihar police have said that the Indian Mujahideen were responsible for the eight blasts in Patna on Sunday that have killed at least five and injured close to 100 people. This report in the Times of India states that four alleged operatives of the outfit have been detained, one of whom is in critical condition after being caught in a blast. “During interrogation, they reportedly told the police that they had staged the attack in retaliation for the Muzaffarnagar riots. They are also said to have named the IM module involved in the Bodh Gaya blasts”, the TOI report added. According to the Hindu, one of the alleged operatives is named Imtiaz Ansari, who was caught while allegedly trying to flee after the blast at the station. He has subsequently confessed to his role in the attack. Meanwhile CNN-IBN reported that Tehseen Akhtar, who is the right hand man of arrested IM mentor Yasin Bhatkal, has emerged as the prime suspect behind the attack. “Aktar alias Monu had taken over the Darbhanga module after Bhatkal’s arrest. Sources further added that interrogators feel the attack was carried by Akhtar to take revenge for Bhatkal’s arrest. However, they also added that this inputs are based on preliminary inquiries”, the report added. Police also conducted raids at different places in Jharkhand on Sunday night after it was discovered that many of the accused in Patna serial bomb blasts hail from the state. “Black powder has been recovered,” Senior Superintendent of Police Saket Kumar Singh said after police raided a place at Dhurva in the state capital. Raids had also been carried out at other places, police sources added. Additional Director General of Police (Law & Order) S N Pradhan said the accused named by Bihar police hail from Jharkhand. “Many of the accused in the serial bomb blasts in Patna are from Jharkhand. They might have carried explosives from Jharkhand or might have got from there,” he said. Earlier this year, Manjar Imam, an alleged Indian Mujahidin operative who hails from Ranchi, was arrested by the Anti-terrorist Squad in connection with Coimbatore and Ahmedabad blasts. In 2001, two terrorists connected with the American Centre attack in Kolkata were shot dead in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district. Today’s serial blasts in Patna ahead of Narendra Modi’s rally claimed five lives and left 66 persons injured. With inputs from PTI