Patna rally blasts aimed at sparking communal clashes: accused

Imtiyaz, the main accused in the serial blasts in Patna, has claimed he had been trained in making Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Jharkhand and Bihar only and the attack at Sunday's BJP rally was aimed at creating communal clashes in Bihar.
In a statement, the arrested accused, who is alleged to be a member of banned Indian Mujahideen terror group, has said they never faced any problem from police in Bihar.
Director General of Bihar Police Abhayanand was not available for comments.
The accused, as claimed by the interrogators, has alleged Mohd Tehseen Akhtar, second-in-command after the arrest of Yasin Bhatkal, one of the founders of IM, had told them that an attack had to be carried out during the rally as this may lead to communal clashes in the state.

Imtiyaz was apprehended by the public near a toilet after a bomb exploded accidentally on Sunday when BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was addressing a political rally.
After his arrest, Imtiyaz had been claiming he was trained and indoctrinated into Indian Mujahideen-fold by Akhther whom he was identifying as "Memon". However, on being shown the picture of Akhtar, he identified him as his handler.

Akhtar, who was the brain behind Sunday's terror attack near Gandhi Maidan where Modi was addressing the rally, and he were desperate to conduct a sensational attack to avenge the arrest of Yasin Bhatkal.
National Investigation Agency has already announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh for information leading to the arrest of Akhtar, a resident of Samastipur in Bihar.

Imtiyaz had told interrogators that Akhtar had met them in Ranchi last week during which the plan for carrying out the attack was finalised. However, he said he was not sure whether Akhtar was in Patna on Sunday or not.
Imtiyaz said Tausim was injured seriously when he was fixing a "Lotus" watch in the explosive material and was apprehended by people while he was fleeing from the area and handed over to police.
Akhtar is considered to be a close aide of Bhatkal and in past few months NIA has been raiding several places to arrest him.