We believe that the network of SIMI was behind the blasts. Indian Mujahideen, which claimed the responsibility for the blasts, is connected to SIMI.

— P. C. Pande

Ahmedabad, August 16
Cracking the Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts that killed 55 persons, the Gujarat police today arrested its mastermind Mufti Abu Bashir and nine others and said the network of SIMI was behind the explosions.

“We believe that the network of SIMI was behind the blasts. Indian Mujahideen, which claimed the responsibility of the blasts, is connected to SIMI,” Gujarat DGP P.C. Pande told reporters here today. Bashir was arrested in Lucknow today, he said, adding that he would be brought to Ahmedabad in a day or two and interrogated for more information. Pande said there were indications that he might be linked with Hyderabad, Jaipur and Banglore blasts as well.

“Today is the big day for the Gujarat police which has been able to crack the Ahmedabad blasts case,” said Pande.

Most of the nine persons arrested in the blasts case are active workers of the banned organisation SIMI. The arrests of Bashir and nine suspects was done with the help of central intelligence agencies and police of other states, Pande said.

“The planning of the blasts was done in Ahmedabad by SIMI,” joint commissioner of police of city crime branch Ashish Bhatia, who is heading the inquiry of the blasts, said. A meeting was held at the house of Yunus Mansuri in Bapunagar area of the city to plan the blasts, Bhatia said. They had purchased five pre-paid mobile cards for internal communication and they were traced after checking the records. It was found that the calls which were coming to these five cards had stopped after July 26, the day of the blasts.

Bhatia also said the police had identified the shops from where the cycles used in the blasts were purchased. Explosives for the blasts came from Madhya Pradesh, Bhatia said.

“Those arrested were present during a training camp organised by SIMI in Halol in Vadodara distrct in January 2008. They were given training on how to survive in adverse conditions and were trained how to tackle police interrogation,” Bhatia said.

“In the camp they were also taught how to drive a motorcycle and fake an accident,” Bhatia said. Bhatia said, “Indian Mujahideen is the organisation formed by SIMI activists. They have dropped the first and the last letter and picked up the middle letters to form Indian Mujahideen”.

Those arrested include Jahid Sheikh, Yunus Mansuri, Shamsudin Sheikh, Arif Kadri, Gyasuddin, Imran, Usman Agarbattiwala, Iqbal Sheikh and Sajid Mansuri. — PTI