Zeenews Bureau
Surat: The Maharashtra anti-terror squad (ATS) on Tuesday detained another suspect as part of the ongoing probe into the Pune bomb blast, the mystery of which still remains to be unraveled.
Sources said the suspect, named Faisal, was detained in Aane, near Surat in Gujarat. Faisal, who is believed to be an active member of the Bangladesh-based terror group HuJI which also maintains links with the Lashkar-e-Toiba and Indian Mujahideen, is being questioned in connection with the February 13 Pune blast in which 15 people have died so far.
It is believed that Faisal had a female accomplice who is on the run. The lady, whose name is believed to be Barkha, is reported to have met US terror suspect David C Headley at Pune’s Surya Villa Hotel, when he came to conduct a recce of the city.
Barkha reportedly hails from Bangladesh.
The police had arrested Faisal’s brother Pinto last year in connection with the circulation of fake Indian currency.
The development comes amidst speculation that the government was considering to hand over the Pune blast investigation to the NIA.
Union Home Secretary GK Pillai had yesterday said that the government was awaiting a probe report of the Maharashtra ATS on the Pune blast which was expected to come within a week`s time.
"ATS is going ahead with the investigations. We will see after a week," Pillai said.
"I hope we will be able to get a report, something positive, by that time," Pillai said.
The NIA team had flown in from Delhi to Pune on the day of the blast to get a "first-hand experience" of the incident.
The blast in German Bakery, a famous eatery near Osho Asharam in Pune on February 13, was the first major terror act in the past 14 months.
The forensic experts have lifted nearly 70 DNA samples from the scene of explosion and were trying to link them with those who had either been killed or were injured, official sources said.
The explosion had not left any clues about the mode of detonations and hints were being made that either a timer had been used or mobile phones were being used for detonation of the bomb on February 13 which comprised 99 percent of deadly RDX and one percent ammonium nitrate, sources in the investigating agency said.
