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A second live explosive found at shrine

– PHOTO: PTI

SECURITY TIGHTENED: Border Security Force personnel patrolling Dargah Bazar near the shrine in Ajmer on Friday.

JAIPUR: A day after the terror attack on the dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, a second live explosive device was found near Buland Darwaza in the shrine during a massive combing operation early on Friday morning, suggesting that those planting the bombs had probably planned an extensive destruction.

Even as the bomb, found in a blue travel bag, was immediately defused, police detained six persons – including two pilgrims of Bangladeshi origin – for interrogation. While the police have not formally arrested anyone so far, no terrorist group has claimed responsibility for Thursday evening’s low-intensity bomb blast that claimed two lives and left 17 injured.

Police sources said the bag contained maps of the dargah and surrounding areas, some electronic devices, batteries and iron sticks. The device appeared to be similar to the one which exploded at Ahata-e-Noor inside the dargah complex shortly after the fast-breaking custom of iftar on Thursday evening.

While a team of the National Security Guards arrived in Ajmer to examine the blast site, a Border Security Force contingent was deployed to provide round-the-clock security to the 13th Century shrine, which figures in the Centre’s list of high-value terror targets.

State Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said the police had found some “vital clues” that would soon lead to the perpetrators of the terror attack. Three special teams of Rajasthan Police left for Mumbai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad apparently after getting some leads during the grilling of those detained from the Dargah Bazar area.

However, investigators were still trying to determine the significance of fragments of a mobile phone recovered from the blast site and examining whether it was used to trigger the explosion. The police did not rule out the possibility that it might have belonged to one of the devotees who had gathered in large numbers at Ahata-e-Noor to break the Ramzan fast and offer prayers.

A couple of eyewitnesses told the police that they saw three young men leaving the courtyard after putting a school bag containing a tiffin box in which the blast material was stuffed under the neem tree in a corner. The police are likely to release sketches of the suspects by Saturday.

The deceased have been identified as Mohammed Shoaib from Mumbai and Syed Salim from Hyderabad. Their bodies were sent to Jaipur on Friday for being airlifted to their native towns. Those injured included both Muslims and Hindus, who were mostly pilgrims from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Orissa and Jammu and Kashmir.

Around 15,000 people attended the special prayers marking Juma-tul-Vida (last Friday of Ramzan) held in the afternoon at the dargah. The majority of shops in Dargah Bazar were opened in the presence of hundreds of police and paramilitary personnel.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who visited the blast site on Friday and met the injured at Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital, said any lapses that led to the blast would be probed and the culprits caught as soon as possible. She said the terror strike was “shameful and condemnable”.

Ms. Raje, making a reference to the ongoing Gujjar agitation, said though a major chunk of the police force was busy dealing with the protests, sufficient forces were deployed in the dargah area. The State Government has already announced an ex gratia assistance of Rs. 5 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased, Rs. 1 lakh each to those seriously injured and Rs. 25,000 each to others sustaining injuries.

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