Two persons arrested in German Bakery blast case of Pune

Mumbai, Sep.8 (ANI): The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday claimed to have arrested two persons, Mirza Himayat Baig and Lalbaba Bilal, in connection with Pune's German Bakery blast case.

Both of them have been remanded to police custody till Sep. 20 by Mumbai's Session Court.

A huge cache of RDX, mobile phones, pen drives and cash in American dollars has also been recovered from the duo, said officials.

At least 17 persons had died in the powerful blast that ripped apart Pune's German Bakery on February 13, this year.

"Himayat, Chief of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba's Maharashtra wing was arrested from Pune last night while the other accused Bilal was arrested from Nashik," said Maharashtra's ATS Chief, Rakesh Maria during a news conference held here on Wednesday.

He informed that the conspiracy was hatched in Himayat Baig's internet cafe in Maharashtra's Udgir district.

A third accused Mohsin Chaudhary had conducted the recce of German Bakery on January 31st and had also supplied the ammunition for the blast that was triggered through a mobile phone, he added.

Maria also disclosed that Bilal, who worked at a factory in Nagpur, had received some training in Pakistan in 2008. He had conducted recce of many places, including government offices across Maharashtra with the intention of engineering blasts in the near future.

Maria said the investigations in the German Bakery Blast Case were conducted with the help of not just Maharashtra police but also the state police of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Delhi.

The third accused Mohsin Chaudhary, however, is still at large. (ANI)