The investigations into the bomb blasts in various Indian cities are throwing up more leads to the banned Students Islamic Movement of India. Intelligence and investigating agencies have now discovered that SIMI [Images], which started to operate under the banner Indian Mujahideen [Images], had set up a dedicated technical cell in Thane on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Abdul Bashir, who the Gujarat police have named as the mastermind in the Ahmedabad serial blasts, revealed this during interrogations.

A police official, who is closely monitoring the links between the Bengaluru and Ahmedabad [Images] blasts, told rediff.com that Bashir will be the key to the investigation and his statements will give them more leads into the Bengaluru [Images] blasts case too.

Bashir's statements reveal that the bombs for both the Ahmedabad and Bengaluru blasts were made in Thane and were identical.

Intelligence Bureau officials say that the technical cell was operational since the Uttar Pradesh [Images] blasts. It was for the first time that SIMI operated under the banner of the Indian Mujahideen. They had recruited several tech savvy persons into the technical cell, who were specialised in hacking. These persons apart from providing assistance in preparing bombs also sent out e-mails in order to misguide investigating agencies, the IB sources said.

Bashir, during his interrogation, also revealed the name of Toufiq Bilal, a techie who heads the technical operations of SIMI.