The Hyderabad twin blasts mastermind, Shahid Bilal, is also the target of a major manhunt by Bangalore police.
BANGALORE: The Hyderabad twin blasts mastermind, Shahid Bilal, is also the target of a major manhunt by Bangalore police.
Bilal is wanted in the December 2005 shootout at Bangalore's Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in which a professor was killed.
"We are conducting investigations," Bangalore police commissioner N Achuta Rao told DNA.
"Bilal is one of the key suspects in the IISc shoot-out," said a senior police officer from Bangalore's anti-terrorist cell.
"We are coordinating with the police in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Lucknow and the central agencies to trace him."
Karnataka has been on alert since the Hyderabad blasts that killed over 40 people.
"We are questioning LeT's southern commander Abdul Rehman about any information of the blasts and Bilal's activities in Bangalore. Rehman is at present lodged in the Bangalore Central Prison," the officer said.
Rehman, who hails from the Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh, is said to have scouted for recruits on the border areas of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
According to police, Bilal, once a LeT militant, joined Jaish-e-Mohamed later and became the chief of the Harkat-ul-Jehad-i-Islami in India two months back.
"We are providing inputs to the other agencies on his activities in Bangalore," the officer said. Meanwhile, the Karnataka districts bordering Andhra Pradesh are put on red alert to look out for members of terror outfits entering the state from Andhra Pradesh.
Bidar district in Karnataka bordering AP is said to be a hot bed for recruitment of militants and has come under police scrutiny since the Hyderabad blasts.
"Besides setting up check posts, we are watching all hotels and lodges in the region," police said.
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