Andhra govt hands over Hyd blasts probe to NIA

Hyderabad, March 4: With no breakthrough in February 21 twin blasts at Dilsukhnagar here that left 16 dead and 117 injured, the Andhra Pradesh government on Monday decided to hand over the investigation to the National Investigation agency (NIA).

The decision to hand over the probe to the National Investigation Agency was taken at a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, state's Home Minister P Sabita Reddy told reporters.

The move comes three days after the Union Home Ministry wrote to the state government to shift the probe to the Central anti-terror agency.

The state police had not been able to make any head way in the case though "special teams" were constituted in the aftermath of the blasts and it was claimed they had obtained "vital clues".

The NIA has brought two alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives Syed Maqbool and Imran Khan to Hyderabad from Tihar jail and subjected them to sustained interrogation for four days after the modus operandi in the blasts pointed the needle of suspicion towards the home-grown terror outfit with strong links to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Maqbool and Khan were claimed to have recede several places in Hyderabad including the crowded Dilsukhnagar, allegedly under instructions from IM founder Riyaz Bhatkal.

State government sources said the Chief Minister reviewed the progress of the investigation at a high-level meeting and decided to handover the investigation to NIA as it had "wider reach and expertise".

Two powerful Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) packed in aluminium containers with ammonium nitrate and shrapnels had exploded near Konark and Venkatadiri theatres in Dilsukhnagar on the evening of February 21 and involvement of IM was suspected as the group had carried out similar strikes elsewhere in the country in the past.

PTI