Mumbai, Nov 19: A special court today extended till December one the police custody of two accused held under Pota for their alleged complicity in the August 25 Gateway of India bomb blast after police informed that they had seized detonators and RDX from their possession. The duo, Hassan Batterywalla and Rizwan Ladduwala, were arrested by Mumbai Police on November five.

Seeking their custody, public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam informed the court that police had seized detonators from Ladduwala and RDX from Batterywala after their arrest and investigations had revealed that they had alleged links with co-accused Nasir who was killed in police encounter recently.

Both the accused were close associates of Nasir, he submitted and argued that their custodial interrogation was absolutely necessary to unearth the criminal conspiracy.

The prosecutor said that there was a possibility of the accused having links with persons with knowledge of use of explosives. He informed the court that this was the first time after 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai, that RDX was recovered from a civilian. Earlier, police arrested under Pota co-accused Sahed Mohammed Hanif, his wife Fahimida and associates Arshat Ansari and Jahid Yusuf Patni. All of them are in custody. Hanif's daughter Farheen has also been arrested in this case and sent to children's remand home as she is a minor.

On August 25, two explosions occurred at Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar in which 53 people were killed and over 100 injured.
Bureau Report