Two more arrested in Patna blasts case

Two more persons, including an explosives supplier, have been arrested by the National Investigation Agency in connection with the Patna blasts for allegedly providing logistical support to the Indian Mujahideen module that carried out the terror strike last October.

The arrested persons have been identified as Mohammed Raju and Anil Pandey. During the raids conducted in Mirzapur on Monday, the NIA had arrested Ahmed and Fukruddin, two accomplices of suspected IM operative Hyder Ali who is wanted in last year’s blasts in Patna and Bodh Gaya. The agency has so far arrested eight of the suspects in the case.

The accused had assisted Hyder in procuring improvised explosive device components. “During interrogation, they disclosed that they had purchased the explosives from Anil, following which we arrested him. Preliminary enquiries have revealed that Anil was in the illegal business of supplying explosives for the past few years and he would procure the stuff pilfered from consignments supplied to mines,” said an official.

The agency suspects that through local contacts in Mirzapur, Hyder had purchased pipes that were used to configure the bombs used in the Patna blasts. “While cylinders were used in the Bodh Gaya explosions, the same module had planted pipe-bombs stuffed with iron-nails in Patna,” said the official, adding that the revelations made by those arrested from Mirzapur are crucial as they would help the agency reconstruct the entire sequence of events leading up to the blasts.