Hyderabad, October 13
A Hyderabad connection is now emerging in the Ajmer blast case with the police suspecting that Syed Saleem, a city youth who was killed in the explosion, could have triggered the terror attack.
The body of 42-year-old Saleem, a resident of Toli Chowk area, was brought here for burial even as a Rajasthan police team arrived to probe his role in the blast at Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti’s shrine at Ajmer on Thursday.
Saleem, who had migrated to Ajmer nearly nine years ago leaving his family here, had visited the city last year. He used to run a cosmetics shop near the shrine and was believed to be a deeply religious person having links with some Bangladeshis.
The police suspected his involvement in the blast after recovering some electric wires from the dress he was wearing.
The Rajasthan government has withdrawn the ex-gratia amount sanctioned for Saleem.
The investigators also took note of the similarities between the May 18 Mecca Masjid blast here and at Ajmer.
The modus operandi of the operation, the nature of explosives, the triggering mechanism and use of a cell phone having a SIM card procured from West Bengal, all point towards involvement of Bangladesh-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HuJI).
“We have found similarities between the blasts at Mecca Masjid and Ajmer. They are being investigated,” the city police commissioner Balwinder Singh said.
The Rajasthan police team, headed by a DIG rank official, held discussions with its AP counterparts to find out if Saleem had any links with terror groups.
The preliminary investigations showed that TNT was used in both blasts, which were triggered by mobile phones.
The police believe that HuJI is responsible for both the blasts. Abdul Shahid alias Bilal, a native of Hyderabad and a HuJI operative, is believed to have masterminded the terror attacks.
