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The sources said that the IED was assembled by absconding suspect Yasin Bhatkal and was to have been planted by one of the six men arrested by the Delhi Police, Mohammed Qateel Siddiqui, but heavy police presence thwarted the attempt.
Siddiqui, sources said, left the bag containing the IED near a flower seller’s stall at the temple and the vendor alerted him to take it back when he was about to leave with flowers he had purchased from him. Police sources said that after the vendor shouted out to him to take back his bag, an argument had broken out between him and Siddiqui but he had taken the bag fearing a heated exchange could attract attention of the police deployed in the area.
After the failed attempt, Siddiqui rushed back to Mumbai where the device was dismantled and dumped in the sea, the sources added.
A resident of Darbhanga in Bihar, Siddiqui’s name has cropped up in all the three attacks, the Jama Masjid firing incident in Delhi, the Pune German Bakery blast and the Chinnaswami stadium blast in Bangalore. Siddiqui was the first of the six IM suspects to be arrested. The Delhi police had nabbed him on November 22 from Anand Vihar bus terminal in New Delhi. As per his interrogation, he is one of the closest associates of Yasin Bhatkal, one of the most wanted IM terrorists on whom the Delhi police have declared a reward of Rs 15 lakh.
Sources added that it was Yasin Bhatkal who devised the plan to plant the bombs and he himself had planted the explosive at German Bakery. He had directed Siddiqui to plant the bomb at the temple, the sources said, adding that when he failed, he rushed back to Mumbai where he dismantled the whole set up, which had a timer just like the one used in the bakery blast and was set at 7.13 pm. Later, Siddiqui took a train to Delhi where he was scheduled to meet Yasin, a senior police officer said.
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