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The police investigating the Mangaluru blast accused Mohammad Shariq’s links with Mysuru are trying to figure out if there was involvement of others and have taken one local person into custody for questioning.
A police team also visited T.Narsipur in tracing the links and it has emerged that Shariq, who came to Mysuru ostensibly in search of a job, had enrolled for a one-month course in mobile repair. He befriended another person who was a mobile dealer and had sold him a few hand sets. However, the police are yet to ascertain if the mobile phone dealer was privy to Shariq’s plans and was in any way involved.
A team of police including those drawn from Mangaluru, Mysuru and CCB zeroed in on the rented house where Shariq was staying since the last two months in the city and scoured it for evidence.
The location was tracked after analysing the tower dump data and the police swooped into the Lokanayak Nagar residence off the Outer Ring Road in Metagalli Industrial Area in the early hours. There are speculations that a few materials suspected to be used in the making of low intensity explosive devices including cookers, circuit boards, wires etc were recovered from the house and though the police confirmed the recovery, did not elaborate citing pending investigations.
The owner of the house, Mohan Kumar, was questioned for additional information and it transpired that the accused had introduced himself as a Premraj Hutagi from Hubballi looking for a job in the local factories at Metagalli and was staying as a tenant since nearly 2 months.
It has also transpired that there were no CCTV cameras installed anywhere close to where Shariq lived and hence there are speculations that it must have been a well-thought out plan to evade detection. Police have also learnt that the accused had not paid last month’s rent and was not known to mingle with the locals.
The narrow lane leading to the house on the 10th Cross was barricaded from both the ends and entry was barred while police kept guard before the investigating team reached the spot. Commissioner of Police B. Ramesh was also at the spot along with personnel from the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad and the Forensic Science Laboratory.
The neighbours where the accused lived since nearly two months were closeted indoors or watching the police operations from the rooftop and those outside were ‘’advised’’ by the police to get back to their respective houses.
