Patna blasts aimed at igniting communal clashes, says accused

Patna serial blasts in which Indian Mujhaideen(IM) was involved was engineered to trigger communal clashes in Bihar in a claim made to police by accused in the explosions at Narendra Modi`s rally.

Patna: The Patna serial blasts in which Indian Mujhaideen(IM) was allegedly involved was engineered with the motive of triggering communal clashes in Bihar in a claim made to police by one of the main accused in the explosions at Narendra Modi`s rally. Three live bombs, meanwhile, were found today during searches at Gandhi Maidan, where another rally is scheduled for tomorrow after the Sunday blasts in and around the sprawling ground that killed six persons and injured 82 others.

The bombs were found on a day when Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami visited Gandhi Maidan and the toilet on the platform at the Patna railway station where the first blast took place. "The investigation is heading in the right direction and perpetrators and conspirators will be caught soon. "We are hopeful that the results will be out soon," Goswami told reporters. A bomb each was found near the Police Information Room, another from the Children`s Park and third one from a place opposite the Magadh Mahila College, all on Gandhi Maidan, Deputy Superintendent of Police, City, Manoj Kumar Tiwari said. The three bombs were recovered within a couple of hours of each other, he said. Two bombs were defused by the bomb disposal squads of the NSG, while the third one was being defused, Superintendent of Police, City, Jayant Kant said. Imtiyaz Ansari, the main accused in the Patna blasts, has reportedly claimed before his interrogators that he had been trained in making Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Jharkhand and Bihar only and the attack at the BJP rally was aimed at creating communal clashes in Bihar. Ansari, as claimed by the interrogators, has alleged that Mohd Tehseen Akhtar, second-in-command after the arrest of Yasin Bhatkal, had told him and others that an attack had to be carried out during the rally as this could trigger communal clashes in the state, police sources said. Ansari, who was produced before Railway Magistrate Arvind Kumar Singh late last night, was remanded to seven days police custody. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the state government has asked the National Investigation Agency(NIA) to take over the probe into the blasts. After his arrest, Ansari had been claiming that he was trained and indoctrinated into the IM fold by Akhtar whom he was identifying as "Memon". However, on being shown the picture of Akhtar, he identified him as his handler. Akhtar, who was suspected to be the brain behind the serial explosions, was reportedly desperate to conduct a sensational attack to avenge the arrest of Bhatkal.