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Pune, Aug. 3: Pune police after two days of questioning today gave a clean chit to Dayanand Patil, a man injured in the August 1 serial explosions, and declared that he was no longer the chief suspect in the terror attack.
Investigators today prepared sketches of two suspects based on descriptions given by Sujit Deshmukh, owner of Soni Cycle Trading Company, and his employees from whom two of the three cycles involved in the blasts were bought.
The sketches will not be released in the public domain and will be circulated among investigators.
According to the information shared by Deshmukh, two men aged between 25 and 30 had visited his shop on August 1 at 10am, nine-and-half hours before the bombs went off on a one-kilometre stretch of Jangli Maharaj Road.
The duo spoke in a mix of Hindi and Gujarati and were interested in purchasing old or second-hand bicycles.
On being told that only brand new bicycles were sold in the cycle mart, they paid Rs 7,200 and purchased the cycles with carriers in front.
The police are yet to trace where the third bicycle was purchased.
Patil, who was taken into custody and described as a “suspect” by Union home secretary R.K. Singh on the night of the blasts, was given a clean chit after his and his wife Satykala’s interrogation did not reveal anything suspicious.
Speaking to reporters, ACP S.S. Solunkhe said: “During questioning, contradictions tend to emerge if a person is a suspect and is trying to hide information. No such thing has happened in Patil’s questioning...”
Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde is likely to visit Pune tomorrow to supervise investigations.
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