Mumbai blasts: LeT, SIMI suspect

New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday claimed to have got some 'leads' on the Mumbai serial blasts that killed 190 suburban train passengers even as Mumbai Police hinted at the involvement of a new module of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), which may have set up base in Mumbai recently.

"The LeT supplied the RDX used in the blasts and SIMI executed the plan on the ground," Mumbai Police sources claimed on Wednesday.

The Centre has, however, remained tightlipped on who was responsible for it.

Mumbai police suspect that deadly RDX explosive may have been used in the seven serial blasts.

Police sources said the possibility is being explored in the backdrop of the Anti Terrorists Squad's (ATS) seizure of 43 kg of RDX from Aurangabad and other parts of Marathwada and north Maharashtra in the past few months.

"More RDX consignment could still be hidden in Mumbai or around and the same may have been used in Tuesday's blasts," a police officer said.

Mumbai Crime Branch sources said based on previous patterns of train explosions in Mumbai, it was likely that devices were loaded at Churchgate station and were fitted with commonly used mechanical timers set to explode at 6:15 pm.

"The perpetrators wanted to create an atmosphere of terror and knew that triggering simultaneous blasts in various parts of the city would serve the purpose," a senior crime branch official said, adding that the suspects may have got down from the trains at stations immediately after Churchgate.

Union Home Secretary V K Duggal said, "We have leads about the Mumbai blasts, but no arrests have been made."

When asked whether the Government hoped to make arrests soon, he simply said, "Wait and watch."

The Home Secretary parried questions on which terror outfit could be behind the blasts.

Meanwhile, even as the ATS of the Mumbai Police and the Central intelligence agencies rummaged through the bits and pieces of evidence, trying to fix responsibility for the blasts –two things have become clear to them.

Firstly, the perpetrators of Tuesday’s blasts had a good idea of the railway time-table and they did their home work well before setting out on their mission.

All the blasts occurred between 6:24 pm and 6:35 pm and they were planned in such a way that at one point the timings of the strikes read 6:24, 6:25, 6:26, 6:30 and 6:31.

Secondly, the Mumbai Police are pretty sure that the devices were loaded at Churchgate station and were fitted with commonly used mechanical timers set to explode at 6:15 pm.

All the blasts were on north-bound slow and fast trains that originated from Churchgate station. This theory also matches previous patterns of train explosions in Mumbai.

"The suspects may have got down from the trains at stations immediately after Churchgate," a senior crime branch police official told PTI on Wednesday.

Interestingly, hours after the blasts, a Ghatkopar resident had come up to the police to say that he had heard three people talking about planting some parcel on a train.

"Parcel train mey chhodke sab Malad mey milengey (We will plant the the parcel in the train and all will assemble at Malad)." This is exactly what he claims to have heard from the conversation of the three people outside Churchgate station at 5.30 pm on Tuesday.

Police have recorded the man's statement and he could also help the police make sketches of the suspects.

The investigating agencies are also zeroing in on a politician with considerable following among the minorities in Mumbai, who may have played a crucial role in the blasts.

Police suspects the man has developed a well-knit terrorist sleeper cell in Mumbai.

The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad lost precious evidence at the blast sites on Tuesday as it could not reach the sites quickly and also because of the showers in the evening.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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