Police announced a five-fold increase in the reward for those giving clues about the two suspects and released the modified sketches of the duo.
PANIPAT: With seemingly little headway in the hunt for perpetrators of the blasts in Samjhauta Express, police on Sunday announced a five-fold increase in the reward to Rs five lakh for those giving clues about the two suspects and released the modified sketches of the duo.
Additional Director General of Police (DGP) A N Ray, who is heading a Special Investigation Team formed to probe last Sunday's firebombing of the trans-border train that killed 68 people, said there has been a five-time hike in the reward for any one giving information on the two suspects.
Investigators are also looking into the possibility that an insider played a role in the two blasts as questions cropped up why the train had slowed down before it reached Deewana, allowing the suspects to get off the train.
"We are not ruling out anything," Railway Superintendent of Police Bharti Arora said when asked about the possible role of an inside but quickly added the train slowed down after Badli and before Deewana because of some construction work and this caution has been in place for over a month now.
Haryana police released posters with modified sketches of the suspect duo.
"The earlier sketch was made with the help of one witness. We now have more than one eyewitness and hence have developed this improved version with their accounts," Arora said.
The new sketches are altered versions of those released two days after the blasts and police said they were modified using additional information about the looks of the suspects given by key witnesses like Pakistani national Rana Shaukat Ali who has said he saw a man get off the train after quarrelling with a RPF guard shortly before the blasts.
The posters containing the modified sketches, which Arora said will be displayed at public places here as well as in Delhi and Attari, also have a photograph of the suitcase containing a unexploded bomb that was found on the trans-border train.
The photograph shows a suitcase with a denim cover that has the words "Apollo 60" written on it.
The posters also have pictures of an Orpat clock used as a timer, an iron pipe, a kerosene-filled plastic bottle and a battery that were in the suitcase planted in the train.
"We want the public to see these posters and give us more and more information," said Arora apparently indicating that the police is now depending solely on information from the public to trace the suspects.
Investigating agencies said they are hopeful of a breakthrough soon. "The investigation is not directionless. It is heading in the right path," Arora said.
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