Pune blast foreigners survey to be done: Maharashtra Home Minister

MUMBAI - Maharashtra Home Minister Ramesh Bagwe has said that a thorough survey of authorised and unauthorised foreigners in the state would be conducted so as to facilitate a thorough probe into the blasts that ripped Pune’s German Bakery on February 13.

Bagwe said, “In relation to the bomb blasts that took place in Pune and Mumbai (26/11); a proper investigation will be conducted by the police department, in which a survey of authorised and unauthorised foreigners, residing in the region, would be carried out.”

Around 17 people were killed and over 60 injured in the Pune blast, which is seen as the first big attack on the country after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Recently, the Pune Police had received two letters that claimed to be from the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Mujahideen Islamic Muslim Front, taking responsibility for the blasts.

However, the police department said the letters must have been sent by some miscreants to disrupt the blast probe, but that would not deter investigative agencies from continuing with the probe.

The explosion came a day after India and Pakistan agreed to meet for high-level talks in New Delhi on February 25. New Delhi had suspended a four-year-old peace process with Islamabad after the Mumbai attacks, blamed on Pakistani-based militants.

The German Bakery, close to the Osho Ashram and diagonally across from the Jewish Chabad House, was one of the sites recced by 26/11 suspect David Coleman Headley. (ANI)