Kerala - Kochi   

Blast at Collectorate: police still clueless

KOCHI: Despite interrogating nearly 200 persons, the police team probing into the blast at the District Collectorate here on Friday is yet to get any specific leads.

Even though there are unconfirmed reports that five persons have been taken into custody, senior police officials said that none could be pin-pointed at this point.

There are also unconfirmed reports that three persons were taken into custody from Erattupetta on early hours of Monday, one of whom is related to Shaduli and Shibili, associated with the proscribed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

A Special Investigation Team led by Manoj Abraham, City Police Commissioner, was formed under the supervision of Vinson M. Paul, Inspector General of Police, Ernakulam Range to investigate the case.

The team has been looking for similar operations in the past and it was pointed out that some fundamentalist groups had used similar explosive devices, known as pipe bombs.

Since the material used in the blast was confirmed to be ammonium nitrate, easily available locally in granite quarries, the police are left with little evidence to start the investigation.

The SIT evaluated the progress of the investigation here on Monday.

Meanwhile, the city police reduced visible policing on the Collectorate premises. Senior officials said that the number of plainclothesmen and shadow wing of the City Police were present in the area in high numbers.

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