Hyderabad blasts: Probe spreads to UP, Bihar and Jharkhand

, Feb 23: The

into the Hyderabad serial blasts that claimed 16 lives besides injuring over 100 people have spread across

,

and Jharkhand and the hunt for three suspects intensified.

Forensic reports said the blasts were set off by improvised explosive devices that used ammonium nitrate, urea, petrol and shrapnel. Investigators have found parallel between the latest blasts and those of August 2012 in Pune.

Reports also said that sleuths were following up on a raid that they had conducted here last month. A suspect, who had been staying there with a false name, had managed to flee from the lodge few hours before the raid took place.

Names of three other suspects have emerged now and they are being viewed closely as potential leads by the local police and the National Investigation Agency. These three suspects reportedly belong to UP, Bihar and Jharkhand.

The investigators were closely working with the state police forces to proceed on the case. A team of Delhi Police reached Hyderabad with details of an alleged Indian Mujahideen member Syed Maqbool, who had admitted after his arrest last October that he had indeed recced the Dilsukhnagar area where Thursday's blasts occurred. The investigation report is crucial for the investigation to make progress although investigators said it was too early to reach any conclusion.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said the intelligence alert, which the home ministry claimed to have issued about possible terror attacks, was sent to all states on February 16. he said the police acted on such cautionary information whenever it was aired.

The princip[al opposition party, BJP, accused the Centre of being soft on terror and sought that confidence-building measures with Pakistan should be stopped. Party president Rajnath Singh said at a press conference here that the Centre was responsible for the blasts for it had failed to provide specific input to the state government.

No information, says UP Police

The Uttar Pradesh Police on Friday said they had no information about Azamgarh link to any of the suspects in the Hyderabad blasts of Thursday.

On reports regarding name of one Tabrez from Azamgarh surfacing in the blasts probe, IG, law and order, B P Singh said such information was baseless and no person with such name is being looked for.

"So far, there is no connection of UP with Hyderabad serial blasts, besides Anti-Terror Squad has given no information in this regard," Singh told reporters here. He also said that the state did not receive any alert in the wake of blasts in Hyderabad.

OneIndia News

(With PTI inputs)