New Delhi, Sept. 17: Same fingerprints, but three diabolical brains.

Forensic tests on bombs defused in the capital have thrown up the same set of fingerprints, which means one person did all the dirty work, but police believe there were three other men who masterminded the operation.

Intelligence inputs after Saturday’s blasts that claimed over twenty lives suggest that Abdul Subhan, a 32-year-old also known as Tauqeer, and two other young men, Zubeer and Abu Faisal, both operatives of banned student outfit Simi, were involved.

Sources claimed that Tauqeer, said to have connections in the Mumbai underworld, was the leader of the group. Azamgarh youth Zubeer, they said, was an expert hacker while Faisal, who is from Madhya Pradesh, was adept at handling bombs.

Intelligence sources said both Zubeer and Faisal played an important role in planning and executing the last leg of the “BAD” (Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi) operation.

The sources said the trio might have left for different locations after completing their assignment. “Tauqeer is said to be hiding in one of Mumbai’s ghettos where he is being taken care of by (elusive Bombay blast accused) Dawood Ibrahim’s contacts while Zubeer has left for Azamgarh,” said a source.

Faisal is said to have fled to Kerala, where the Students’ Islamic Movement of India is believed to have floated most of its front organisations after it was banned in 2001.

Sources in Delhi police said 12 people from Azamgarh had been rounded up during a raid with the help of central agencies and the special task force of Uttar Pradesh police.

Search teams have also been sent to Madhya Pradesh and Kerala to track down Zubeer and Faisal, the sources added.

Sources in security agencies hinted at a sense of increased urgency amid fears that the suspects might be planning more deadly attacks. “We fear they want to carry out more blasts to secure the release of Safdar Nagori,” said a source.

The Simi leader was arrested in Indore along with three others earlier this year.

The sources said Nagori’s interrogation and that of suspects rounded up after the Ahmedabad blasts like Mufti Abu Basheer and Sajid Mansuri had given investigators a clearer picture.

Investigators claim that Tauqeer, Zubeer, Faisal and Basheer attended a 20-day Simi seminar in November-December last year and had been introduced to Nagori by Simi Kerala chief Abdul Peedical Shibli.

The five, a source said, were made part of a 50-member team entrusted with the task of creating panic in Delhi as well as Haryana through serial bombings.

Intelligence agencies are also looking for Lashkar and Simi modules believed to be active in Delhi. The national capital region is believed to have more than 600 “sleepers”, or people who aid and abet acts of terror.