The National Investigation Agency questioned two Indian Mujahideen operatives, Syed Maqbool and Imran Khan, who were flown to the city from Delhi on Friday. Maqbool had revealed during his investigation by Delhi police that he and Imran had conducted a recce of Dilsukhnagar on the directions of IM founder Riyaz Bhatkal.
The two were kept at the NIA office in Begumpet. NIA teams headed by DIG A. Ravi Shankar and the counter intelligence and city and Cyberabad Police units questioned them. One of them, Imran Khan, was taken to the places he said he had visited. They will be questioned for four more days.
A top official associated with the investigation said, “We are hoping we will get some more vital information from Maqbool regarding the Indian Mujahideen module operating in Hyderabad. There is no breakthrough at this moment but definitely there is a ray of hope for us, which may lead to cracking of the twin blasts case soon.”
The two are said to have conducted the reconnaissance of Dilsukhnagar in 2012. Maqbool was caught in November 2012. They were arrested by the Delhi police in connection with the Pune blasts and have been awaiting trial in Tihar jail.
Meanwhile, investigators visited Jummerat Bazaar and showed pictures of four absconding IM operatives, Yasin, Tabrez, Tahseen and Waqas, and asked if anyone had sold bicycles to them.
“We have asked around 14 bicycle sellers in Jummerath Bazaar. None of them identified them. The cycle appears to be an assembled one as the frame and other parts appear to be different,” source said.
Assistant commissioners of police of Saroornagar and Malakpet were also present during the interrogation.