Hyderabad, Oct 7 (IANS) The Andhra Pradesh government Tuesday announced a reward of Rs.1.5 million for Mumbai Police, which claim to have solved the mystery of last year’s twin bomb blasts here with the arrest of suspected Indian Mujahideen members. Home Minister K. Jana Reddy announced the reward while expressing his satisfaction over the breakthrough.

“This was possible through the sharing of intelligence among the states. The arrests have helped in cracking the case and foiling the attempts of the ISI and other groups to spread violence and terror,” he told reporters.

Mumbai Police Monday arrested 20 suspected Indian Mujahideen members, two of whom, Akbar Ismail Choudhary and Aneeq Shafeeq Syed, were allegedly involved in the Aug 25 blasts here.

The near simultaneous blasts at a public park and a popular eatery here had killed 43 people.

However, the brain behind the blasts and Indian Mujahideen chief Riyaz Bhatkal alias Roshan Khan is still absconding. He had personally planted the bomb at Gokul Chat, according to the police.

Hyderabad city police commissioner B. Prasad Rao said a team of police officials from the city was in Mumbai to question the arrested and gather more information.

According to Mumbai Police, the two suspected members of the Indian Mujahideen have confessed their involvement in the Hyderabad blasts.

Aneeq planted the bomb at the Lumbini Park while Akbar placed the bomb under the overbridge at Dilsukhnagar, which could not explode and was later defused by the bomb squad, the police said.

Aneeq and Akbar reportedly told Mumbai Police officials that Riaz hatched the conspiracy to avenge the bomb attack at the historic Mecca Masjid. They said Riaz believed that the blast at Mecca Masjid on May 18, 2007, was the handiwork of a Hindu extremist organisation.

Nine people were killed in the mosque blast while the subsequent police firing at protesters near the mosque claimed five lives.

After the mosque blast, Riaz, a native of Bhatkal in Karnataka, visited Hyderabad, conducted a reccee of several places and chose three spots to place the bombs, the police said.

Riaz later returned with some accomplices, including Mohammed Sadiq Shaikh, planted the bombs and left the city by train the same night, the police said.

While the case of the twin blasts now appears to have been solved, the Hyderabad police were still clueless about the perpetrators of the Mecca Masjid blast.

The police arrested about 30 Muslim youths on suspicion of involvement in the blast.