The Hindu : Front Page : Phone calls were made to Pakistan, Bangladesh: police

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 05, 2007
ePaper

Front Page

Front Page

Phone calls were made to Pakistan, Bangladesh: police

Marri Ramu

Before and after Hyderabad twin blasts

HYDERABAD: Calls were made to Pakistan a day before the August 25 twin blasts here and afterwards to Bangladesh from the two mobile phones of Ridwan Gazi, absconding Bangladeshi who was living in the Old City of Hyderabad.

While this revelation pointed to the Pakistani and Bangladeshi connection to the bomb blasts, a bus ticket seized from Gazi’s rented room in Kishanbagh here confirmed that another Bangladeshi living in Bangalore was also involved, police sources said.

The second Bangladeshi, referred to by the code-name ‘RR’ — Rehmat or Rasheed — is believed to have travelled from Bangalore to Hyderabad prior to the blasts. He stayed in Gazi’s room. The bus ticket had been booked in Bangalore in another name.

“Once these two Bangladeshi nationals are picked up, a clear picture will emerge about the conspiracy and execution of the blasts” a top city police official said.

Twenty-year-old Gazi, the investigators believe, holds crucial clues to the twin blasts. Everything about him — from the government ration card he acquired to the calls made to Pakistan and Bangladesh — was suspicious.

Sleuths found that calls were made to a mobile phone of the Grameenphone company in Bangladesh. They have contacted a Mumbai-based distributor, who supplied SIM cards in bulk to Bangladesh, to find out subscriber details. The police sources maintained that they were yet to verify whether Gazi made the calls or whether his Bangalore associate used his phones.

3 held for questioning

Even as three Hyderabadi friends of Gazi were picked up here for questioning, special teams were sent to Bangalore, Tamil Nadu and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh in search of him.

Gazi, surprisingly, did not appear before the Special Branch of police as required under the law, though he had reportedly been staying here for six years, during which he completed class X and intermediate. He purchased a second-hand motorcycle and got it registered in his name.

Rafsanjaani, Gazi’s sister, who was pursuing a degree course at Vellore in Tamil Nadu, and arrested when she came to meet Gazi here, is being taken into police remand for further questioning. It is learnt that Rafsanjaani travelled four times to Chennai recently. She maintained that she went there only to purchase books.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page