Rajasthan police on Wednesday made headway in their investigations into the eight serial blasts that rocked the walled city of Jaipur on Tuesday evening, killing 80 people and wounding more than 200 others.
The police have released the sketch of a suspect involved in the terror attack on the Pink City. The suspect is said to be a youth of about 25-26 years of age and is believed to have planted a bomb at Manak Chowk. The sketch was drawn with inputs collected from the owner of a bicycle shop in Kishanpole Bazaar of the walled city.
The clean-shaven Bangla-speaking youth, nearly six-foot tall, was wearing a striped T-shirt, trousers and shoes, according to eye-witnesses.
Incidentally, most of the eight bombs that went off were planted on bicycles reportedly purchased earlier in the day.
The explosives were a mixture of RDX and ammonium nitrate.
RDX from B’desh?
According to UP police, the RDX used in the Jaipur blasts might have reached there from Bangladesh via Uttar Pradesh. The police have also launched a massive hunt for a woman who allegedly promised Rs 100,000 to a rickshaw puller to carry out the terror attacks that killed 80 people.
“We are looking for a woman, identified as Meena, who tried to lure a rickshaw puller, Vijay, to carry out the attacks,” a police officer said on the condition of anonymity.
Vijay, a resident of Mumbai who suffered minor shrapnel injures, told the police that Meena lives near one of the blast sites. No further details of the woman’s role in the bombings were available.
According to Additional Director General of Police (Crime) A K Jain, there were tell-tale signs of the blasts being the handiwork of the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI). The explosive devices were fitted with timers and planted on cycles, a modus operandi similar to the one used by HuJI in last year’s blasts in court premises in Uttar Pradesh, the police said.
Eight persons including a man injured in the blasts and a rickshaw puller are being questioned, the police said, noting that seven teams of Rajasthan police and intelligence branch have begun the probe into the blasts.
An examination of the blast sites also indicated that the bombs were filled with ball bearings and small iron pieces to act as splinters, sources close to the investigation said.
Curfew in Pink City
Meanwhile, the usually busy and crowded markets of the Pink City wore a deserted look during the day curfew imposed by the district administration.
The administration had, however, allowed the victims’ families to perform the last rites of their dear ones.
The day curfew was imposed in 13 police station areas of the walled city but business establishments outside the curfew areas too remained closed.
Asked if the state had been tipped off by Central intelligence agencies, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said there were only general alerts and no specific information.
Raje held an emergency cabinet meeting to review the law and order situation in the state.
