INDORE: At least two suspects linked to the MP train blast, including Saifullah who was gunned down in an encounter in Lucknow, were involved in the murder of a retired principal in Kanpur last October, an ATS official said today.
"During questioning of the three men arrested in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday, we came to know that one among them, Atif (Mohammad Atif Muzaffar alias Al Qasim) along with his two accomplices from Uttar Pradesh (Saifullah and Mohammed Faisal Khan) had a role in the October 24 murder of the retired school principal Ramesh Shukla, 62 who was shot dead in Kanpur," a top official told the PTI.
The official associated with the probe into the Tuesday's Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train blast said the role of Atif's accomplice Mohammed Faisal Khan, arrested by the UP police yesterday in connection with the blast is still being probed.
"We have informed the UP police so that they can verify and probe it further," the officer said.
Ten people were injured when an IED exploded on board the passenger train near Jabdi railway station in Shujapur district.
The MP police had arrested Atif, 22, Mohammad Danish alias Zafar, 27 and Syed Meer Hussain alias Hamza, 19 from Piparia in Hoshangabad district, hours after the blast.
The trio have been remanded in police custody till March 23 and are presently being quizzed for their roles in the blast.
According to the official, the conspiracy to trigger the blast had been hatched in Uttar Pradesh, but the trio chose Madhya Pradesh to set off the explosion because they wanted to commit a big crime outside UP, while also hoodwinking police and the intelligence agencies.
"A few relatives of Mohammad Danish alias Zafar live in Bhopal. He had spent nearly 3-4 months in Bhopal about a year and half ago. He knows a bit about the geography of the state (MP)," the official said.
The UP police had arrested yesterday Kanpur residents Mohammed Faisal Khan, Mohammed Imran alias 'Bhai Jaan' and Danish, who are believed to be brothers.
The police had also arrested Fakr-e-Alam alias Rishu from Etawah and Atiq Muzaffar, a resident of Kanpur. Another person, identified as Shailendra, has also been held from Auraiya.
The police also arrested today a former IAF employee, Mohd Ghaus Khan who, they believe, is the "mastermind" of a terror module that included Saifullah.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Home Minister Bhupendra Singh had yesterday said the perpetrators of the explosion were influenced by ISIS ideology and the incident was a "trial blast" as the terrorists planned to carry out more attacks.