Author: G.S. Radhakrishna
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: September 2, 2007
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070902/asp/frontpage/story_8265554.asp
[Note from the Hindu Vivek Kendra: There was
an earlier report that the police in Hyderabad had questioned illegal immigrants
from Pakistan and Bangladesh. The report did not say whether they were arrested
if not for the terrorist attack but for their illegal stay. Here is another
example of how those indulging in using the hospitality of the country also
get involved in abusing the hospitality.]
Vellore woman in net for Mecca Masjid blasts
A second-year lady medical student of Vellore's
Christian Medical College was last night taken into police custody on the
suspicion of ferrying RDX from Bangladesh to Hyderabad.
Policemen on the Lumbini Park blast trail
stumbled upon Shahi Rafzani, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi, on a tip-off that
her brother resembled the suspect whose sketch was released on Thursday.
Shahi is suspected to be a "transporter"
of the RDX that was used to set off the tiffin-box blasts in Mecca Masjid
in May. She was picked up from her brother Rizwan Gazi's Hyderabad home where
she had apparently come on a vacation.
"A routine check following an alert about
her brother Rizwan Gazi revealed that she returned from Bangladesh very recently.
She could be one of the carriers of RDX to Hyderabad," a police officer
said. "About 10kg RDX was moved to Hyderabad from Bangladesh via Maldives
in February."
Rizwan, who could be fair, stocky and about
five-foot-eight going by the sketch, was not home. He works in a public sector
company but has been missing for two days, the police said.
He is, however, not the first person reported
to resemble the sketch. Some others were rounded up earlier on similar grounds
but were released.
The police said they were astonished to find
that Shahi's family, staying in Hyderabad on extended visas, had acquired
ration cards, PAN cards and driving licences.
But Shahi did not have any travel documents,
including her passport, he said. Some Lumbini Park blast suspects who were
made to undergo narco tests spilled her name to intelligence officials, he
added.
"The Bangladeshi family has been living
clandestinely for over six years in Hyderabad and have legitimised their residency
in spite of temporary stay permits," a state intelligence officer said.
Further details about Shahi's family in Hyderabad
are not yet known.
The police rounded up more suspects today
and registered cases against 15 people, including Mohammed Shaheed alias Bilal,
the Harkat-ul Jihadi Islami chief believed to be the brain behind the blasts.
In Guntur, Sonia Gandhi condemned the blast
perpetrators as "enemies of our country and humanity" who "do
not want India to progress" and urged parties to stand united against
terror.
"The perpetrators of this heinous act
have no religion or race
now is the time for all of us to remain united
and take on the challenge of terrorism."
She said it was unfortunate the blasts were
being politicised in utter disregard of the human cost of the tragedy.