Pune:
The Maharashtra Police have said they are investigating the Indian Mujahideen's (IM) role in the Pune blast, that has left nine people dead and 57 injured.
The Indian Mujahideen link is coming to the forefront increasingly. Key IM leaders who are untraceable seem to be emerging as the key suspects.
Police are hunting for Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal and Mohsin Chaudhary, who belong to the southern branch of Indian Mujahideen. All three of them are from Pune.
The American Lashkar terror suspect David Headley spoke about Bhatkal brothers to his FBI interrogators.
Pune's Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) has sought the interrogation report of Mansoor Peerbhoy, allegedly the head of the Indian Mujahideen's media cell.
Sources say that he had mentioned a sleeper cell in Pune during the interrogation.
Peerbhoy, a techie arrested in Pune by the Mumbai Crime Branch in 2008, is accused of sending out terror mails before the Delhi and Ahmedabad blasts. He and other Indian Mujahideen members were accused of hacking into a US national's wireless network from Navi Mumbai and sending out emails warning about the Ahmedabad blasts. Four days before the Delhi blasts, they had sent another email from Mumbai's Cheetah Camp area.
Peerbhoy is said to have been indoctrinated and trained in Pune by Riyaz Bhatkal.
Another alleged Indian Mujahideen militant Shahzaad - accused in the Delhi blasts - is also being questioned in custody on whether the outfit had sleeper cells in Pune. Sources said Shahzad has told interrogators the Indian Mujahideen has a presence in Maharashtra but so far, there's nothing on the Pune blast.
Of the 21 Indian Mujahideen men the Mumbai police had arrested in July 2008, 11 were from Pune, indicating a strong presence of the outfit in the city. The arrested Indian Mujahideen men in fact told interrogators of "presence" in Pune, says Maharashtra Police.
The use of IED in the Pune blast has also reinforced the suspicion that the IM may be involved. The Indian Mujahideen has used IEDs in previous blasts.