STF prepares suspect's sketch in Gorakhpur blasts

Gorakhpur, May 24: The Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh Police has prepared the sketch of a suspect in the serial blasts, which shook the district on May 22.

''As STF is still investigating the case, it would not be right to release the sketch right now. We have located the shop from where one of the cycles used in the blast was purchased,'' Senior Superintendent of Police R K Rai told sources here today.

''The sketch was drawn up on the basis of clues provided by the bicycle shop owner and mechanic,'' the SSP informed.

At least four people were wounded in the three explosions within five minutes duration between 1900 hrs to 1915 hrs at a petrol pump, Baldev Plaza Market and Hotel York here.

The explosives were placed in tiffin boxes clinging to two old and one newly-purchased bicycles.

So far, 24 people had been taken into custody for interrogation.

The STF had cracked the March 7, 2006 serial blasts at Sankatmochan temple and Cantonment railway station in Varanasi and July 5, 2005 blast at the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi complex in Ayodhya.

UNI