Bengaluru blast: No breakthrough yet

Bengaluru, Jan 19: More than three weeks after the Improvised Explosive Device triggered blast here that claimed the life of a woman and injured three others, police today said there is no breakthrough yet in the case and they were following the clues.

"All that I can say about this case is that we are on work following the clues, we have dedicated teams working on this case 24/7. We are collecting information on suspected groups. Teams have also been sent to places to collect information about them," Bengaluru Police Commissioner M N Reddi told reporters here.

"I can only say that there is no breakthrough in the investigation till now, but investigation is being carried out very actively and constructively", he said.

"We are eager to complete the investigation, we need some more team," he said. The blast triggered by an IED placed in a potted plant had occurred outside a restaurant on Church Street in central business district claiming the life of 38-year-old Bhavani who was on a visit to city from Chennai on December 28.

On the recent arrest of three suspected Indian Mujahideen operatives, Reddi said due procedures were followed while raiding and seizing "incriminating materials" from the place where they had stored them.

Bengaluru Police on January 8 had claimed to have unearthed a terror module of IM with the arrest of its three alleged operatives and seizure of a huge cache of explosives during raids on their houses at Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada district and here.

The fourth alleged operative was arrested on January 11 at the Mangaluru international airport before flying to Dubai. On alleged pro-Islamic State twitter account handler Mehdi Masroor Biswas, he said, "now that investigation largely pertained to getting the cyber evidence, the evidence from the internet on his emails- the evidence is being collected with the co-operation of the various agencies."

Biswas was arrested on December 13 under IPC section 125 (waging war against the Government of any Asiatic power in alliance with the Government of India) sections 18 and 39 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act.

PTI