The Hindu : Front Page : Malegaon blasts: police make headway

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006
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Malegaon blasts: police make headway

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra police claimed to have made a major breakthrough in the Malegaon serial bomb blasts of September 8 and booked 25-year-old Noorul Hooda Shamshul Hooda, an activist of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India.

A court in Malegaon remanded him to the police custody till November 3.

Hooda was already under arrest. He was nabbed on October 8 for allegedly being involved in planting a fake bomb at a shopping centre in Malegaon on September 13.

"But today he was formally arrested for his complicity in the Malegaon blasts conspiracy," Director-General of Police P.S. Pasricha said here on Monday. He said two other suspects were identified and would be arrested soon.

Shabbir Baterywala and Raees Ahmed, arrested earlier under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for being involved in the fake bomb planting, are also going to be booked in the Malegaon blasts case. Forensic laboratories found similarity in the traces of the materials picked up from the blast sites and the hoax bomb site.

Interrogation

The involvement of Shabbir and Hooda became clear during interrogation. The latter was put to narco-analysis and lie detector tests in Bangalore. Shabbir's godown was allegedly used for assembling the bombs.

Dr. Pasricha did not identify the terrorist organisation behind the blasts in the powerloom town. He said investigation was on. Anti-Terrorist Squad Inspector-General, K.P. Raghuvanshi, his deputy Subodh Jaiswal, Nashik Range Inspector-General P.K. Jain and Nashik-Rural Superintendent of Police, Rajwardhan were present at the briefing.

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