Serial blasts: Two doctors taken into custody

Two doctors have been picked up in Karnataka in connection with the serial blasts in Ahmedabad and Bangalore.

A team of the Gujarat police camping in Karnataka picked up two doctors -- Dr Saleem Ali and Dr Pathan -- from Bijapur, a town in northern Karnataka, on Sunday.

The police team from Gujarat, which coordinated with the Karnataka police, picked up the duo from the Jamia Mosque road. Dr Ali was camping at the residence of Dr Pathan, a police officer told rediff.com.

According to a police official, Dr Ali, a dentist from Mumbai had moved into Dr Pathan's house in Bijapur. It is said that soon after the Ahmedabad blasts, Dr Ali was allegedly given shelter by Dr Pathan at his residence on Jamia Mosque road in Bijapur.

Although police are yet to ascertain his role behind the two blasts, they say immediate information with them shows Dr Ali had provided logistic support to those who carried out the blasts.

However, no offence has been made out against Dr Pathan as yet and the police maintain for now that he had only given Dr Ali shelter.

Police sources told rediff.com that the Gujarat police had been keeping a tab on Dr Ali for some time now. They followed him to Mumbai and then to Karnataka where they got information about his hideout.

While the Gujarat police will grill him about his role in the blasts, their counterparts in Karnataka are also looking into the role played by Dr Ali in the serial blasts in Bangalore.  Police say they are trying to get more clues regarding SIMI activists in Karnataka.

With this, the northern part of Karnataka has come under the scanner once again. Both police and the Intelligence Bureau maintain that north Karnataka had become a hub for SIMI and a large number of sleeper cells had been set up in this part of the state.

It was in north Karnataka that the police picked up Mohammad Ghouse alias Riazuddin Nasir -- a key SIMI activist. His statements helped in busting a major part of the SIMI network in the country.