City police grills 3 suspects in Chennai train blasts

CHENNAI: While the government, within hours of the blasts, handed over the case to the state CB-CID, various security agencies had reportedly picked up at least three men for interrogation. The police have not ruled out the angle of ‘revenge’ act by terror groups for the arrest of Sakir Hussain, a suspected ISI agent arrested by the ‘Q’ branch in Chennai.

Immediately after the blasts, a passenger who returned to collect his bag, was picked up by the police on suspicion. “He said he was working in a corporate hospital in the city as a cashier. We are verifying his claim as well as his background,” the police said.

At Chennai airport, two persons were picked up by the city police on suspicion. “One of the detained two was let off after primary investigation as he was found to be a smuggled goods carrier,” the police noted.

However, a police team headed by a joint commissioner of police was grilling another suspect who was travelling in the train but rushed to the city airport to catch a Guwahati flight. “He claims he wanted to reach home very urgently so decided to catch a flight fearing delay due to the blast in the train he was travelling. He is from Guwahati and worked as welder in Bengaluru. We are trying to verify his claims,” the city police said.

The Intelligence sources also noted that the twin blasts may have been executed by terror groups to show their anger against the arrest of suspected Pakistani spy Sakir Hussain, a native of Sri Lanka.