Hyderabad: Anique Shafique Sayyed, an arrested accused in the blast, came to Hyderabad with Rs 12,000 and rented a place in Vivekananda Nagar of Habsiguda to recce potential places. The prime bomber arrived with 9-volt batteries, six AA batteries, three quartz timer watches and a box containing three IEDs with packed ANFO as the core charge. The bomb was assembled and made at their hideout and three places, Gokul Chat, Lumbini Park and Dilsukhnagar, were selected as targets a few days prior to the blasts.
The planned attack was set into motion from the first week of August itself. Four days after Anique reached Hyderabad, Riyaz dispatched Akbar Chaudhary to join him following which the duo started staying in the rented flat, disguised as Vinod Patil and Satish Gaekwad to avoid suspicion. The men joined Naved, along with whom they ‘surveyed’ the crowded places in the city and reported about the same to Riyaz Bhatkal. The selected places were Dilsukhnagar, Koti, Lumbini Park, Ameerpet, LB Nagar, NTR Gardens and Gokul chat bhandar.
“The laser show at Lumbini Park and the crowds there made it a prime target” an official said, adding that the terrorists received a 20 kg parcel from Afzalgunj bus terminal, which they took to their room and awaited orders.
On August 24, Riyaz came to the city with batteries and detonators and assembled the bomb and fixed it to go off at 6:45 pm. Akbar hung it in a cloth bag on a parked bike. However, the clock malfunctioned due to misplacement of the batteries.“He returned back to the flat where Riyaz and Anique were watching the blast news on TV. Anique left the bomb under a seat at the laser show in Lumbini Park and Riyaz left the bomb on a soda dispenser at Gokul Chat” said the official.
