Had warned of terror threat to Mahabodhi temple: Delhi cops

A Delhi Police team will visit Bihar's Bodh Gaya town, rocked by serial blasts Sunday, and give investigators information gathered from four Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists who earlier planned an attack on the Mahabodhi temple, an official said, adding that they had warned of a threat to the revered shrine.

One of the four arrested terror suspects involved in last year's Pune blasts had said during questioning that he had made a video film of the area around the Mahabodhi temple, a Delhi Police officer said.

According to police, the IM operatives had told them that they had spent 15 days in Bihar doing a recce of the temple.

"We will be sending a team to Bodh Gaya to share the information provided by the arrested IM operatives who had planned to carry out serial blasts in the temple," the officer told IANS here.

The officer added that they had alerted intelligence agencies and Bihar Police about a possible terror attack in the state.

"We had shared the inputs with intelligence agencies and Bihar Police about a possible terror attack," he said.

In October 2012, Delhi Police busted a group of IM terrorists which carried out Pune serial blasts inAugust last year. The suspects revealed during questioning that they had planned similar attacks in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bodh Gaya, he said

The arrested IM terrorists in the Pune blast case were identified as Syed Maqbool, Imran Khan, Asad Khan and Irfan.

Sayed Maqbool, a fruit seller and resident of Maharashtra's Nanded taught the other suspects how to make IEDs (improvised explosive devices). He was arrested from Hyderabad, police said.

Maqbool was a close associate of Imran of Aurangabad and Asad of Nanded who were arrested from south Delhi's Pul Prahladpur area, police said.

In April last year, Imran introduced Maqbool to Riyaz Bhatkal, a fugitive believed to be in Pakistan for carrying out the attack as a retaliation to the alleged atrocities on Muslims in Myanmar, police said.

"The gang discussed plans to carry out a fidayeen attack in Hyderabad and Bodh Gaya. They decided to carry out the blast in Pune first," the officer said.

Imran had captured on video the area around the Mahabodhi temple and handed over the footage to Maqbool, police said.

Police sources also told IANS that the suspects told them that they had receed Mumbai's J.J. Hospital and its surrounding markets for attacks.

Mumbai police were informed about their plans, they said.