A few hours of interrogation that one gang member, Janardhan Pashi, went through before he succumbed to his injuries sustained in the blast, have given police some vital leads. ``Pashi told us he used to get his supplies of arms and explosives from a head constable in the UP police,'' said Additional Commissioner of Police (north-west), Satyapal Singh. He also confessed to buying four imported automatic Chinese Mauser pistols from this source, Singh added. ``Pashi's contact in UP could be just one of the several channels used by Mumbai'sunderworld to smuggle in arms and ammunition,'' Singh claimed. A police team comprising senior officers of the Dahisar police and some crime branch sleuths has already left for Varanasi, Azamgarh and Allahabad.

Pashi also gave police some important information about the brain behind the blast, one Raju Singh. The crime branch officers have now confirmed that the grenade was hurled by Singh and not Pashi, as was believed earlier. While Singh is absconding, his wife, Pankaj, has been traced. She has revealed that her husband, who hails from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, has two brothers.

While one of them is employed with the Border Security Force and is currently posted at Calcutta, the other works for Allahabad police in Uttar Pradesh. Pankaj also disclosed that last year, Singh had started a security outfit, Rajput Security Agency in Borivli, and had mentioned how his brothers were helping him in procuring arms for the same. However, he closed the business following poor response.

Forensic reports toosupport the police theory that the grenade used by the gangsters at Dahisar was smuggled out of either an army ammunition depot or police stores. The crime branch sleuths had recovered a green lever, a catch pin and three green splinters of the grenade from the spot. Such grenades, experts revealed, were used only by the army, the UP police or the state police in its anti-Naxalite operations. Investigators have found out that Pashi had links in Mumbai police too. In fact, after he broke up with Suresh Manchekar, he was introduced to the Chhota Rajan gang by a police constable, who is currently attached to a South Mumbai police station. This constable, who is now facing dismissal for the indiscretion, had arranged for a meeting between Pashi and the Singapore-based top lieutenant of Chhota Rajan, Guru Satam.