CCTV footage study: State may seek FBI help

  The Andhra Pradesh police may consider seeking the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation's help to analyse and harvest images of suspected bombers from a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera near the twin blast site in Hyderabad, sources said.

The footage obtained from the camera near the twin bomb blast site have not yielded any credible clues so far, as images of three persons lurking near a bicycle, believed to be strapped with explosives, is not clear enough, sources said. 16 people were killed and 117 injured in the twin bomb blast at Dilshuknagar here on Thursday. The footage was sent to a film laboratory in the city. However, there has been no headway. The quality of the picture could not be improved. So, the footage may be sent to FBI which has advanced technology, an official said.
The police have begun collecting call data transmitted before the twin blasts through cell phone towers located in the vicinity of the Dilshuknagar. Investigators are also of the view that the twin blasts were not triggered by a remote control but by a timer device, sources said. It is difficult to use remote control for triggering the second blast as the first explosion would disturb waves and frequency. It would have made the second explosion difficult. So, the bombs might have been triggered by a timer, they said. Intensifying the probe, the police collected guest registers of some hotels and lodges around the blast area and are verifying credentials of the occupants.
The police are yet to achieve a breakthrough even as 15 teams comprising officials from Hyderabad and Cyberabad police are investigating the blasts, besides the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Meanwhile, the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Court in Mumbai today allowed the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) to interrogate two accused in connection with last week's Hyderabad twin blasts.
Firoze Sayyed and Irfan Landge are among the eight arrested by ATS in connection with blasts on Pune's Jangli Maharaj Road last year. We had sought permission to interrogate Firoze and Irfan in connection with the Hyderabad blasts case and the court has granted us the permission, an ATS officer said.
In a related development, the Hyderabad City Police Commissioner in a statement today said all shopping complexes, cinema theatres and star hotels should be equipped with metal detectors as well as CCTV cameras. The Commissioner also ordered that no vehicle should be parked in front of any establishment and a cloak room has to be provided to keep belongings.
PTI