Planters disguised as rag-pickers?

Investigators scan CCTV footage from Chinnaswamy to prepare sketches of 3 men found moving suspiciously hours before blasts

Investigators scan CCTV footage from Chinnaswamy to prepare sketches of 3 men found moving suspiciously hours before blasts

Police investigations into the twin blasts on Saturday revealed that the bombs were planted around 4 am, twelve hours before the scheduled IPL tie by three men disguised as rag pickers.

Officials involved in the investigations revealed that when a security guard asked one of the suspects to reveal what the bag he was carrying contained, the other two had hurried away towards Anil Kumble Circle where the second explosion took place on Saturday.

CCTV footage indicates that the three men are 20-to-25-years-old. "The security guard said the men spoke Kannada.

A police team assists explosives expert Sukumaran defuse a bomb planted near the Mahatma Gandhi Statue bus stop near Chinnaswamy Stadium last morning.

The bombs had not been connected properly. This shows that the men were not adequately trained," said a senior officer who visited the spot.

"Had things gone the way they had been planned, it is certain that a bigger disaster would have occurred. A team from central investigating agencies are to help local authorities in the investigations," he added.

Even as sleuths examine CCTV footage of about a dozen cameras around the stadium to prepare a sketch of the planters, former Chhota Rajan aide Ravi Poojari called up a local television station alleging that fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim was behind the blasts.

Poojari claimed the bombs were planted to exact revenge from the police who recently arrested some members of the Dawood gang from Bangalore and Mangalore.
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Poojari also said that Dawood was not happy with the success of the IPL.
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A team from central investigating agencies will help local authorities in the investigations.

Intelligence Bureau sources, who suspect the Indian Mujahideen planted the bomb, confirmed that three rag pickers were seen moving around the stadium in a suspicious manner around 4 am.

One of the three men also had a plastic bag, the sources said.

While city police maintains that it is too early to say whether the two low-intensity blasts outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium and the subsequent recovery of explosive material indicates involvement of terrorists.
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"The matter is being investigated. It is too early to say who did this," said Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) A R Infant.