The Hyderabad City Police, which is probing FridayÂ’s bomb blast at the historic Makkah Masjid, has yesterday recovered a cell phone and a remote control that could have been used to detonate the bomb that claimed several lives and caused injuries to many others. While a National Security Guards team from New Delhi had been searching the mosque area in the morning for picking up material clues on the blast, one of the workers deployed to clean up the big water pool (used by the people for ablutions before the prayers) found a cell phone and a remote control amid the fish in the pool.
The worker subsequently found some splinter pieces of the improvised explosive device that exploded when the Friday prayers were on at the 400-year-old mosque. An investigating officer said that the cell phone and remote recovered yesterday would help the police investigations by providing vital clues about the persons/ organizations behind the blast.
On the day of the blast, the police had detected two unexploded bombs from the mosque premises placed at a distance of 100 meters from the spot where the killer bomb had exploded. One of the unexploded bombs was found in a bag hung to the iron grills on the compound wall of the mosque.
The police had recovered a cell phone attached to the unexploded bomb. The cell phone had a prepaid SIM card of a popular service provider.
The SIM card was apparently purchased in Kolkata on May 2. The cell phone was also of a popular make.
The cell phone and remote control recovered yesterday were also sent to Andhra Pradesh Forensic Science Laboratories. Earlier, on Friday, the detected unexploded bombs and cell phone were handed over to the APFSL for detailed examination. The APSFL is also examining the pieces of exploded bomb and other materials seized from the mosque.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad and its twin city Secunderabad returned to normalcy yesterday after the bomb blast. Though it was a Sunday, many shops opened in the twin cities. The bazaars in the Old City came back to life with fruit vendors and pavement hawkers resuming their business.
Hotels, petrol bunks, cinema theaters reopened. However, banks, government offices and establishments remained closed on account of weekly holiday.
City Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh said that “the city is calm and peaceful and the situation is normal.” The police set up metal detector doors at the main door of the mosque and allowed the people to offer the noon prayers only after frisking them thoroughly.
Tension prevailed for sometime at Lakdikapul in the city when about 300 activists of Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen, led by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, staged a noisy demonstration at the Director-General of PoliceÂ’s office, protesting against the bomb blast at Makkah Masjid and the death of several youth in police firings. Waving the party flags and shouting slogans, the MIM activists demanded a CBI probe into the blast and police firings and the suspension of the police officials and men who resorted to firing on Friday.
The protesters, including MIM legislators, dispersed after staging the dharna for two hours.
It may be recalled that on Saturday night, Director-General of Police M.A. Basith had clarified that the death toll in FridayÂ’s incidents was 14, including nine in the blast and five in police firing.