Six months after terrorists struck at Lumbini Park in Hyderabad, claiming 11 lives and injuring several others, the police have finally found their man -- Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Riyazuddin Nasir.
The police, after thorough interrogation and investigation, have now come to the conclusion that it was Nasir, who had gone to Lumbini Park when a Laser show was on and placed a black colour bag containing the bomb, and slipped away from the spot a couple of minutes before the bomb (made out of Neogel-90) exploded.
Though the revelation has reduced the burden of the Hyderabad police, it will now have to probe further and try to find the man who set off a similar explosion at the Gokul Chats in the city on the same day (August 25, 2007) in which over 25 people lost their lives.
The police were able to confirm Nasir's role in the blasts through the Narco Analysis test, which was conducted on him last week. Through the test they also found that he was planning to blow up the police headquarters in Hyderabad and was expecting a consignment of 50 kg RDX from Pakistan.
He had planned to place the RDX on a bike, which he had stolen and ride it into the headquarters, Nasir revealed during the test.
Two days after the blasts, the Hyderabad police had prepared a sketch of the man who had set of the Lumbini park blasts. A group of engineers from Maharashtra, who were present at the park, had given the description of the bomber. They revealed that the bomber had shifted seats frequently and could have placed the bomb and slipped away when the show was on.
Taking a look at the sketch prepared by the police and Nasir's photograph, one could easily say that there is not much similarity between them. The police face a severe problem when it comes to the software used while preparing such a sketch. The software needs to be upgraded as it cannot describe correctly the face of the accused if he sports a modern hair style or wears a sun glasses.
A similar bomb had been placed at the Gokul Chats on the same day. The police have, however, not managed to get a description of the man behind it as there was too much chaos on the place when the explosion occurred.
For the Hyderabad Police, Nasir will be the key to all the pending investigations in Andhra Pradesh relating to the blasts. They will try and find out from him the man behind both the Mecca Masjid and Gokul Chat blasts, which occurred in a span of less than three months. They will also try and ascertain the role of Shahid Bilal in the blasts.
More from rediff