Days after the Pune police arrested two suspects for their alleged involvement in terror-related activities, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) took over the investigation into the case, an official said on Sunday.
The police apprehended the duo, who were wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for their alleged involvement in a terror-related case in Rajasthan, from Kothrud area of Pune city in the wee hours of Tuesday.
A court in Pune sent the duo - Mohammad Imran Mohammad Yunus Khan (23) and Mohammad Yunus Mohammad Yakub Saki (24) - to police custody till July 25.
The two suspects hail from Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh and are graphic designers. Both carried a bounty of Rs 5 lakh each, the police have said.
Duo was booked under UAPA
"The NIA had booked the two terror suspects under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). After their arrest, the Pune police on Saturday handed over the case to the ATS," a senior police official from Kothrud police station said.
An ATS official confirmed that the agency has taken over the probe into the case from the city police.
"We will now investigate the case further," the ATS official said.
After being apprehended by the Pune police on Tuesday, the two were interrogated jointly by the city police and ATS officials.
According to the police, three suspects were caught by a police patrolling team while stealing a motorbike in Kothrud area in the wee hours of Tuesday. While their checking was on, one of the three suspects managed to run away.
Police sources have said the two arrested suspects had fled Ratlam after coming to know that their names have cropped up in the investigation in the terror case in which some suspected members of the Al-Sufa outfit were apprehended by the Rajasthan police from the Madhya Pradesh town.
They landed in Mumbai, where they stayed in the Bhendi Bazaar area for two to three days and then came to Pune's Kondhwa area. The duo took up jobs with the help of a local resident, the sources said.
They befriended a third person, a resident of Jharkhand, who managed to escape when the police nabbed the duo, the sources said.
The police sources claimed the three accused were allegedly conspiring to trigger bomb blasts in Jaipur.
