Bengaluru blast: Police have fuzzy pix, sketch of suspects

BENGALURU: Two days after the Church Street blast, the police have come out with sketches of a few suspects who they believe planted the bomb near the Coconut Grove restaurant that exploded on Sunday night killing a woman and leaving three others injured.

City's top cop M. N. Reddi told reporters that experts have sketched the portrait of the suspects drawn from footage of the street from various CCTV cameras.

"After analyzing a lot of footage captured by various CCTV cameras installed by commercial establishments on Church Street, and the surrounding streets, the investigators have homed in on a few people whom they suspect could be behind the blast. Experts have sketched the portraits based on the visuals, which were not very clear.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) is making efforts to track down these people, who resemble the sketches," Mr. Reddi said.

However, he made it clear that the sketches were made just for investigative purposes and would not be released to the media or the public.

"We are still analysing the footage and sketches. Only after we are convinced about the suspects' involvement, will we go public with the sketches and seek information from the people," he added.

Read: Bengaluru blast: Twitter teen who posed as terrorist falls in police trap

Mr Reddi admitted that the police had, so far, not got any crucial leads in the probe.

Two days after the Church Street blast, the police have come out with sketches of a few suspects who might have planted the bomb near Coconut Grove that exploded on Sunday night killing a woman and leaving three others injured.

City Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi told reporters that experts have sketched the portrait of the suspects based on various CCTV footage.

“After analysing the footage captured by various CCTV cameras installed by commercial establishments on Church Street and surrounding areas, the investigators have suspected a few people who could be behind the blast.

They have drawn up a sketch based on the visuals, which were not very clear. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) is making efforts to search for those who resemble the sketches,” he said.

He, however, clarified that the sketches have been made just for investigation purpose and will not be released to the media or public.

“We are still analysing the footage and sketches. Only after we are convinced about the suspects, will we make it public and seek information from them,” he added.

He said that the police have, so far, not got any crucial leads in the probe. “We are investigating the blast from all angles.

The FSL report is yet to reach us and it will help us pinpoint the organisation behind the attack. No terror outfit has claimed responsibility for the incident so far,” Mr Reddi said.

NIA holds meeting with state police
As the probe into the Church Street blast continued, top officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) held a meeting with the state police.

The meeting, which was held at the DG&IGP’s office here on Tuesday evening, was also attended by senior police officers from the state, who are part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the case.

It is learnt the officials exchanged information based on their past experiences. “The focus was to discuss the course of the investigation and how to take it forward.

They also tried to analyse which terror outfit could be behind the blast. The NIA officials extended their cooperation and assured us of all help,” an officer said.

Meanwhile, the SIT has put its men on job on a three-tier system. “Teams have been formed within the SIT, and we are investigating in the city, other parts of the state and outside the state. No angles are being ignored. We are considering each and every possibility seriously,” an official said.

On the other hand, FSL is still examining the material recovered from the blast site. “The process is on and we will submit a report to the SIT in 2-3 days. Then they will match the report with past incidents. It will help them in finding out the module behind the attack,” a source in the FSL said.