The Hindu : Front Page : Identification parade for suspects

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Sunday, Mar 12, 2006

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Identification parade for suspects

Varanasi police chief transferred; he was away during the attacks

Varanasi: The two suspects, picked up in connection with the bomb blasts in Varanasi, on Saturday underwent an identification parade at a hotel in the temple town, STF sources said here.

Sadiq Ali and Ansar, whose faces resembled the sketches released by the police on Thursday, were picked up along with six others from a marketplace in Hardoi.

Police officials were tight-lipped about the outcome of the parade and remained inaccessible to the media.

A large number of mediapersons had gathered outside the hotel where the identification parade took place.

False address

A report from Lucknow said the officer in charge of the Hardoi police station, V.K. Mishra, who arrested the duo, told PTI that they had furnished an address, different from what they had told the police, in the rest house where they had checked in.

They had booked the rooms in the name of Javed, resident of Dulaipur in Jaunpur district, though they gave different names to police during interrogation, Mr. Mishra said.

Under attack from the Opposition, the Uttar Pradesh Government on Saturday transferred Varanasi police chief Navneet Sikera, who was away from the temple town on the day of the bomb attacks.

Principal Secretary, Home, Alok Sinha said Sikera had been replaced by Senior Superintendent of Police Moradabad, G.K. Goswami.

Mr. Sikera had been attached to the office of the Director-General of Police here.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Mau, Sujit Pandey will be the new District Police Chief of Moradabad.

Mr. Sikera, as also the District Magistrate of Varanasi, Nitin R. Gokarn, were not present in the city on the night of the blasts.

While Sikera and his deputy SP (City), Anant Dev, were away attending a marriage at Saifai, ancestral village of Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mr. Gokarn was on leave.

The matter of their absence was raised in the Vidhan Sabha by the Opposition parties, which termed it ``irresponsible.'' — PTI

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