The probe into Sunday’s Church Street blast, in which one woman was killed, has gained a pan-India character with multiple State agencies, National Investigation Agency (NIA) and central intelligence agencies joining hands with inputs on the suspected SIMI module.
As agencies suspect Madhya Pradesh SIMI module’s role in this year’s terror attacks in Chennai, Pune and now in Bengaluru, they are working to nullify the module, before it emerges as another pan-India threat, said a senior NIA official. Officials suspect SIMI, which had been low key since the emergence of the Indian Mujahideen, has regrouped after Yasin Bhatkal’s arrest.
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Police held multiple-agency meetings on Tuesday during which they shared leads, including a couple of mobile numbers they were trailing. They have taken the mobile tower dump from around the blast site and are analysing the data. An official said there were close to one lakh calls and messages from the area.
Meanwhile, police officials from Madhya Pradesh from where the five SIMI activists hailed and fled the district prison, an anti-terror squad of Maharashtra probing the July 2014 Pune blast, Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department of Tamil Nadu probing the Chennai Central blast and officials from Telangana, where the module is suspected to have carried out a bank robbery in February this year, have reached the city.
A Post-Blast Investigation team from the National Security Guards carried out an analysis of the blast site, and held discussions with forensic experts. Special Director-General of NIA Navneeth R. Wasan too visited the site on Tuesday.
Police have isolated footage of two people, who were moving suspiciously on the footpath opposite to the blast site.
It shows them stopping abruptly and looking intently at the spot where the explosive went off. The footage lacks clarity and the police are using image-enhancement technology to obtain a sharper image.
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