We are none the wiser one week on
Scanning through roughly one terabyte of data—mainly CCTV images from Opera House and Zaveri Bazaar—and cross-checking it with locals took days. Investigators finally zeroed in on a suspect in the Zaveri Bazaar blast only on July 19; a sketch was prepared and shared with select investigating teams. Over 1.5 lakh calls made from and received in the three areas that evening were scrutinised; six numbers were found to have “suspicious activity”, leading to a Muslim-dominated area in Ahmedabad in Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh.
Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan stated “there’s no point in putting undue pressure on cops to come up with names and groups”. Chavan’s diktat to Maria was: avoid identifying a group till the jigsaw is solved. Police sources, off the record, say the needle of suspicion points to IM, but quickly add that “all groups, including Hindu groups, are on the radar”.
Investigators—drawn from Mumbai police, other state police units and ATS teams, NIA officers, all assisted by forensic experts from Mumbai and Hyderabad, and led by a joint command of Mumbai ATS and Crime Branch—agreed on the fact that all the bombs were made primarily from ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, to which were added potent one-inch metal pieces and nails to inflict grievous injuries. Investigators were unable to agree on the devices used to set off the bombs—mobile phones or timers. An unclaimed shattered motorbike from Zaveri Bazaar was the only clue as the investigations entered second week.