Uttar Pradesh ATS and a five-member team of national investigation agency (NIA) have started working in tandem on the Varanasi blast. Sources said Interpol had issued red corner notices for Riyaz Bhatkal alias Roshan Khan, one of the founder members of Indian Mujahideen (IM), and Shahnawaz, another top IM operative from Azamgarh in east UP.
While Bhatkal is holed up in Oman, Shahnawaz, who is a bachelor in unani medicine from Siwan in Bihar, is known to be hiding in Dubai or Saudi Arabia.
The special task force (STF) of UP Police took two suspects into custody for interrogation on Thursday.
Though no official information was given out about the two men arrested in Varanasi, the sources said the suspects were Mobin, a mason, and Vijay, a labourer.
While the latter is a local, Mobin’s origins are being traced. The two were picked up after the investigators learnt they had recently repaired a portion of the Dashashwamedh Ghat, where the blast took place on Tuesday.
The explosive was wedged in between broken stones on the stairs of the ghat. Initial NIA investigations revealed that a crude bomb had been used in the blast.
A top official involved in the investigation said the NIA and ATS had also zeroed in on Shahnawaz’s cousin Asadullah who is known to have been trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Investigating agencies are scanning details of calls made by Asadullah and Shahnawaz to people in Azamgarh, the sources said. Asadullah has been known to picking up young “recruits” for terror operations.
Shahnawaz has been linked to several previous blasts.
