MUMBAI: The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Wednesday said the investigations into the Mumbai serial blasts probe were at a crucial stage and every lead was being pursued. The ATS is now focussing on an unidentified body, lying in the Lokmanya Tilak Hospital at Sion, which could provide a vital link.

The body had only the head, a shoulder and part of the chest, ATS chief and Joint Commissioner of Police, K.P. Raghuvanshi told reporters here. A DNA profile was being carried out and the police were trying to get experts to prepare a sketch of the face. In the past few days a few persons came to claim the body but their credentials were not satisfactory.

Establishing identity

Mr. Raghuvanshi said the body might have been found at the Mahim or Matunga station, he said. Until the police got some idea of the identity, it might be difficult to say whether the person was part of a suicide squad, he said in answer to a question.

Confusion ends

The confusion over which forensic science laboratory confirmed the chemicals used in the July 11 blasts ended on Tuesday when Rukmani Krishnamurthy, director, Forensic Sciences Laboratories, Mumbai, clarified that it was this facility and not the laboratory in Hyderabad or the National Security Guards who tested the samples from the blast sites.

Dr. Krishnamurthy told The Hindu that she and a team of 20 people trained in analysis of this sort collected all the samples from the blast sites.

"We gave the report to the ATS on Monday."

The laboratory in Mumbai had the latest equipment, which no other State had, and it used the techniques adopted in the U.S. and U.K., she said.

The substances used in the blasts were a mixture of RDX, ammonium nitrate, nitrites and fuel oil.

"Publicity stunt"

Mr. Raghuvanshi said one person, Sumit, was arrested in Madhya Pradesh for sending an e-mail claiming responsibility for the blasts. He confessed that the message was a publicity stunt.

The ATS chief said he had a discussion with the Madhya Pradesh Additional Director-General of Police,who was in the city.

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