A day after a low-intensity blast ripped through Sheetla Ghat in Varanasi, investigators said 3-4 people were involved in planting the improvised explosive device (IED) but their identities are yet to be known.
The alleged e-mail sent by members of the banned Indian Mujahideen, claiming responsibility of the blast, has been traced to Navi Mumbai. It was sent by hacking the unsecure router of a broadband internet connection of a five-member family that lives on the first floor of a Mansarovar Apartment.
The Mumbai police had tracked the e-mail late Tuesday evening and have questioned members of the family. The police have detained the two sons of the house owner. One son is a disco jockey and the second is a software engineer, but sources said they will soon be allowed to go. “We have taken the computer that was being used by the family and the hard disk is being checked,” said a police officer.
The gruesome terrorist strike killed a toddler and injured 37 people, including four foreigners. Initial reports had suggested that the blast had occured at the Dashashwamedh Ghat.
“There is a fast food joint on the ground floor of Mansarovar Apartment that has close-circuit cameras. We have taken the footage to find out if these could provide any lead. So far, we don’t know who had sent the e-mail but we believe it was sent from a mobile phone,” said a senior officer of the investigation team.
The alleged e-mail was sent to media organisations claiming the blast was in response to the demolition of Babri Masjid in December 1992 and the riots that followed.
Interestingly, unlike previous strikes by Indian Mujahideen (IM), in which iron nails and pellets were used to inflict maximum casualties, the IED used in Varanasi had no splinters. Investigators said they did not find any circuit, battery or shrapnel at the blast site. “Forensic experts from Agra have reached Varanasi and are studying the nature of blast,” the officer said.
Officials in the Union home ministry claimed they had sent a detailed alert to the Uttar Pradesh police on February 25 this year that there was a possibility of a terrorist attack at the blast site and also to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, a few metres away.