'Important progress in Mumbai blasts probe'

Thimphu: Investigation into the July 13 serial blasts in Mumbai has made "important progress" and the probe was on right track, Union Home Secretary RK Singh said on Thursday. "There is important progress in Mumbai," he told PTI when asked whether there was any breakthrough in the probe into the three blasts in the metropolis in which 20 people lost their lives.

The Home Secretary said the investigation was on right track but refused to disclose further. Singh was on his way to Thimphu to attend the three-day conference of the SAARC Interior/Home Ministers that began in Thimphu on Thursday.

In his first visit abroad after taking charge as Home Secretary, he will review the progress made in the implementation of the decisions taken at the previous meeting held on June 25, 2010 at Islamabad.

The meeting will be followed by the fourth meeting of SAARC Interior and Home Ministers tomorrow. Home Minister P Chidambaram will be attending the meet.

Both the central security agencies and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) have scanned over one lakh phone calls so far to nab the accused behind the deadly terrorist attack in the country's financial capital.

Several teams of investigators have been rushed to various states including Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat in a bid to get leads in the case.

Twenty people were killed and over 130 injured in the triple blasts at Dadar, Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House on July 13. Maharashtra ATS has made a sketch of a probable suspect in the Zaveri Bazar blast and has circulated it only to select investigators and top informers.

About 501 people have been killed and nearly 2,200 others have been injured in 13 terror attacks which have rocked Maharashtra since 2002.

Police from neighbouring states are also extending support to Maharashtra ATS and central intelligence agencies to trace the accused behind the attack.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister P Chidambaram among others have visited Mumbai after the blasts to express solidarity towards victims.

Maharashtra government has announced a compensation of Rs five lakh to the families of those killed and Rs 50,000 to those injured in the triple bomb blasts.