Monday, August 1 2005 21:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh police today (Aug 1, 2005) suspected the involvement of banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in the Shramjeevi Express blast near Jaunpur and released the sketches of two of the four persons believed to be behind the explosion that killed 10 people last week.

One of the suspects, who along with his accomplices jumped from the moving train five minutes before the explosion in a general compartment in Badlapur tehsil, might have suffered injuries in his head, Additional Director General of Railways B K Bhalla told reporters in Lucknow.

The medium quality bomb and its timing around the Independence day point a finger at the involvement of SIMI, which had triggered a similar blast in Sabarmati Express during Independence day in 2000 near Barabanki, Principal Secretary, Home, Alok Sinha and Bhalla said after releasing sketches of the suspects.

Giving eyewitness accounts, Bhalla said the four involved in the blast had probably boarded the train in the second bogey from the engine at Varanasi and had planted the bomb in a briefcase.

He said the accused in their 30s posed as military personnel and tried to shift all passengers of the first bogey and an unreserved one to the second for causing maximum casualty.