Mangaluru : Police carry out raid at eighteen places in connection with the autorickshaw blast that took place in Mangaluru Saturday - an explosion that was later made out to be a botched terror attack.
The raids are at homes belonging to relatives of the prime suspect Mohammed Shariq. It is now found the culprit carried out a rehearsal blast at Thunga in Shivamoga before heading for intended full blown explosion in the city.
Backdrop : On 19th, the prime suspect, Mohammed Shariq flagged an auto returning from Mangaluru railway station. A short time later, a blast occured inside the vehicle and there was fire and smoke. The driver and Shariq both sustained injuries.
Police, NIA, bomb squad, dog squad and forensics descended on the scene after a pressure cooker found in the debris contained what looked like explosive device. A search of Shariq’s house unearthed fake IDs and materials used in bomb-making. Incidentally, Shariq is a fugitive wanted under UAPA in another case. Investigators are waiting for Shariq to recover to conduct detailed questioning. For now they believe, the blast was targeted in full potential at crowded location in the city, but went off before time.
Raids today were conducted at locations in Mangaluru and Mysore.
