Pune blasts accused had done recce of Hyderabad, 16 dead, 117 injured

New Delhi/Hyderabad, Feb 23: Two of the alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives arrested by Delhi Police for their involvement in Pune blasts last year did a recce of Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad, the site of Thursday's deadly attack that left at least 16 persons dead and 117 injured.Sayed Maqbool and Imran Khan, both of whom hail from Nanded district in Maharashtra, told police during interrogation after their arrest in October that they both did a recee of Dilsukhnagar, Begum Bazar and Abids in the Andhra Pradesh capital on a motorcycle in July 2012.Maqbool was, in fact, arrested from Hyderabad on October 23 where he was hiding to evade arrest.He was in close association with other accused arrested as they allegedly planned to launch fidayeen attacks on the Buddhist shrines in Bodh Gaya in Bihar in retaliation to the alleged atrocities being committed upon Muslims in Myanmar, senior officials of Delhi Police's special cell said.“About a month before Ramzan in 2012, Maqbool helped Imran in doing a recce of Dilsukhnagar, Begum Bazar and Abids in Hyderabad on a motorcycle. This was done on the instruction of Riyaz Bhatkal,” the officials said.Meanwhile, a special team of the Delhi Police has left for Hyderabad to assist the Andhra Pradesh police in cracking the case.Meanwhile, Cyberabad police on Friday gathered vital clues relating to the twin blasts. Twentyfour hours after the blasts, police also announced rewards for anyone providing information about the suspects seen in Dilsukhnagar where the evening rush hour bombings Thursday also maimed dozens.Cyberabad Police Commissioner D. Tirumala Rao asked people for information about a young man seen in the area before the bombs went off.“If you have seen a youth carrying something and parking a scooter or a cycle under suspicious circumstances, provide the information to police,” he said at the scene of the terror attack.Claiming that police had obtained many clues, he said he was confident the case would be cracked. He said investigations were on at a brisk pace.Police are believed to have gathered revealing clues from CCTV footage. “I don't think CCTVs have failed. Some images have been captured,” Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters after a visit to the scene of attack Friday evening. Of the three CCTVs in the area, two are believed to have captured some images which may help the police in identifying the terrorists who planted bombs near two cinema theatres.The Crime Investigation Department (CID) began the probe after police registered two cases.The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and forensic experts gathered clues from the sites.Earlier, the death toll rose to 16 with two injured succumbing at two hospitals. The toll could mount further as the condition of some of the injured was said to be critical.A pall of gloom descended on the otherwise busy Dilsukhnagar Road while heart rending scenes were witnessed at hospitals.There was palpable tension in Dilsukhnagar where VIPs made a beeline while thousands gathered out of curiosity. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who flew to Hyderabad early Friday, said: “There was no specific information that it (blasts) will happen in a particular area. “A general alert has been sounded for the last two-three days. We have issued this alert in the entire country,” he said.Shinde later Friday faced the ire of the opposition in parliament, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing him of taking a casual attitude vis-a-vis the terror attack. Besides Shinde and Azad, union ministers S. Jaipal Reddy, K. Chiranjeevi and Sarve Satyanarayana, BJP president Rajnath Singh, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi visited the blast site and hospitals.Hundreds of people, mostly BJP and ABVP activists, gathered at the blast sites and raised slogans against terrorists and Pakistan. Police had a tough time in controlling the crowds. Though police did not impose any restrictions on traffic, only few vehicles were on the roads.Most shops and business establishments on the road was closed. Elsewhere in the city, the shutdown called by the BJP evoked a partial response. There was no impact on Cyberabad, the IT district that houses IT giants like Microsoft and Google.Most schools and colleges were shut. Most shops and businesses were open. BJP activists went around the city asking shopkeepers to down shutters.Barricades were erected in Begumpet leading to the US Consulate in the heart of the city.