'Dawood funded Hyderabad blasts'

The investigation into the three bomb blasts at Hyderabad has taken a new turn with the narco analysis test of an accused revealing that fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim funded both the Mecca Masjid and twin blasts in Hyderabad earlier this year. The revelation that Dawood spent crores of rupees on the blasts was made by Majid, the youngest brother of Shahid Bilal, the HuJI operative, who is a prime suspect in the blasts.

Majid was brought to Bangalore by the Special Investigating Team and subject to a narco analysis test a couple of weeks back. Majid was picked up from a mobile store in Hyderabad where he was working as a sales representative. The Hyderabad police claimed that Majid was aware of the blasts.

Majid explained during the test how the money was pumped in by Dawood to fund the blasts. Fake currency worth crores of rupees was first sent across to Shahid Bilal who in turn exchanged for genuine notes at a 2:1 ratio. The deal was struck with various agents across the country by Bilal. The money which originated from Dawood in Pakistan was routed into India through Dubai, Bangladesh and Nepal.

A week before the twin blasts in Hyderabad, the police had seized a huge consignment of the notes. After the blasts the Hyderabad police had said that they did not rule out this money having links with the blasts. A probe to this effect was also initiated.

Majid said during the test that even prior to the Mecca Masjid blasts; they had used the same money to make bombs. He also spoke about several other consignments being sent out to carry out more attacks in different other parts of the country in future.

Majid said during the test that his brother Shahid was in direct contact with Dawood who had promised to fund all his operations. He also revealed that Shahid himself had sent down the consignment to carry out the blasts in Hyderabad. Apart from this he also confessed that Shahid had a role to play in both the IISC attack in Bangalore and the recent blasts at the Ajmer Dargah.

While the IISC attack case is still under investigation by the Bangalore police, the Ajmer blasts are jointly being probed by the Hyderabad and Rajasthan police. Majid's revelations have given the police of all three states -- Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka -- an entirely new angle to investigate into.

The police say that they will have to study the report in details. A narco analysis test report cannot be used as evidence in the court of law and the police can only use it to get leads into the investigation.

During the test, Majid was also questioned about the authenticity of news surrounding Shahid Bilal's death. Both the Pakistan and Indian intelligence agencies have been having a war of words over the reports. While Pakistan claims that he is dead, India believes that he is very much alive.

Majid said during the test that his brother was alive and is in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh at the moment. He said news of his death was spread by Shahid himself on the internet as he thought that there was too much heat building on him. Shahid's father too had said recently that his son was dead and the investigating agencies were just fooling the people into making him believe that he was alive.