Date:24/02/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/02/24/stories/2007022417331400.htm

National

Train attack: suspect brought to Panipat for questioning

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: A 35-year-old man detained a couple of days ago at Bikaner in Rajasthan on suspicion of his involvement in the Samjhauta Express blasts was brought to Panipat in Haryana on Friday.

However, he has not been formally arrested.

According to the police, Salman was picked up from the house of a railway employee, Taj Mohammad, who vanished from the scene well before they mounted a raid at his residence.

The police recovered over 20 bottles of kerosene and petrol from the house, following which they questioned Taj's wife also.

During interrogation, Salman purportedly disclosed that he belonged to Mumbai and had come to Bikaner about a month ago.

While Salman is being interrogated by the Haryana police, the Bikaner police have launched a hunt for Taj.

It is learnt that they have picked up one of his friends, identified as Chandra Shekhar, and are questioning him to know his whereabouts.

The Delhi police have succeeded in identifying the factory where the suitcases used to plant the bombs were manufactured. Enquiries with the Delhi-based factory's owner have revealed that the "cheap quality" suitcases are supplied to various parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and some other southern destinations. Hence, the police are finding it difficult to zero in on the place from where the perpetrators would have bought the suitcases. The bottles containing the inflammable liquids used in the blasts have been found to have been manufactured in Andhra Pradesh.

In view of the recovery of a torn piece of newspaper from one of the suitcases containing the unexploded bomb, the police are trying to find out if any Uttar Pradesh-based terrorist module was behind the blasts.