Patna, Feb. 27: Two prime accused in the Gandhi Maidan serial blasts case were taken to Bangalore last night for interrogation in connection with the attack in Bangalore’s Church Street on December 28, 2014.

A senior National Investigation Agency (NIA) official said today (Friday) that Haider Ali and Umer Siddiqui, who were earlier charged with orchestrating the serial bomb blasts at Patna’s Hunkar Rally in October 2013, were taken to Bangalore by a special flight under tight security arrangements.

The officer said the Bangalore police had earlier approached a special NIA court in Patna for taking Haider and Siddiqui, said to be active members of Students’ Islamic Movement of India (Simi), a banned outfit, on remand for questioning in connection with a terror attack case. “The team had come to Patna with a body warrant issued by a

Bangalore court against the two suspects who were lodged in Patna’s Beur Central Jail. The health of the suspects was examined at a government hospital before being taken to Bangalore,” a senior officer of the state’s anti-terrorism squad told The Telegraph.

A body warrant is also called a bench warrant or writ of body attachment. A judge issues it to authorise a person’s arrest in a civil or criminal matter.

The officer revealed that the special investigation team (SIT) constituted by the Karnataka government to probe the blast case decided to take Haider and Siddiqui on remand for questioning, as there were similarities in the blasts that occurred at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan and Bangalore’s Church Street.

When contacted, Karnataka additional commissioner of police (law and order) Alok Kumar said the interrogation of Haider and Siddiqui would provide vital clues in the terror attack case. “They would be grilled by the members of the SIT assigned to probe the case,” he said, adding that the police have been groping in the dark till date.
Alok said though the SIT analysed the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, call record details and other circumstantial evidence from the scene of crime, nothing substantial was found. 

Initial investigation has hinted at the involvement of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives in the incident, he added.

A middle-aged woman was killed and three others were seriously injured in the explosion allegedly carried out by the members of the IM and the Simi.