The security agencies and the UP police are zeroing in on the role of Mohammed Tuffail Hussaini, Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islamia militant and a mastermind of 1993 train blasts, in connection with the Lucknow serial blasts as his kin has been picked up for questioning.

Sleuths have picked up his brother, who runs a travel agency, from Ameenabad area of Lucknow for questioning as Tuffail, on whom the CBI has announced a cash reward also, continued to elude the police.

The cops strongly suspect that Tuffail, who was also instrumental in arranging the cadres for HuJI, could have masterminded the Lucknow serial blasts as his previous plan to carry out serial blasts in buses had failed.

The 41-year-old Tuffail, who heads the Mujahiddin Islam Al Hind which is perceived as a shadow name of HuJI, is believed to have fled the country to Pakistan or Bangladesh via Kathmandu but was masterminding all the nefarious activities from across the border.

The detention of his brother, who runs a travel agency, may not reveal much except his present location, the sources said.

Across the state, many people had been rounded off for questioning including some of the Bangladeshis who had been staying illegally in the country, they said.

The name of Tuffail, who had not figured in any terror-related cases after the 1993 serial train blasts, started doing the rounds again this year when two militants, who were carrying bombs for planting on various UP roadways buses, got injured when the explosives went off prematurely.