Mumbai on tenterhooks as police hunt for two suspected terrorists (Second Lead)

MUMBAI - With the 10-day Ganesh festival starting Saturday, police have gone on high alert as two suspected terrorists have entered Mumbai with a view to creating disturbances during the festive season.

Joint Police Commissioner Himanshu Roy told reporters that intelligence reports received by the police and state home department said the pair — said to be a Bangladeshi and a Pakistani — entered Mumbai sometime ago. They are Kalimuddin Khan Alias Rameshwar Pandit, 28, and Hafiz Sharif, 25.

Roy said the police and the crime branch have set up special teams and have sought the help of the public to nab the pair, whose sketches have also been released.

He said they may create disruptions during the festive season in crowded places, especially at religious gatherings.

Though he did not go into specifics, Roy was clearly hinting at the hundreds of Ganesh pandals which have been erected all over Mumbai and where millions of worshippers throng at all hours of the day.

The Ganesh festival, preparations for which have begun in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra on a grand scale, attracts hundreds of thousands of domestic and foreign tourists.

He urged Mumbaikars to provide any information on the duo to the nearest police station, or the control room No. 100 or on special helpline numbers 022-22633333/022-22625020.

Meanwhile, in view of the developments, police have heightened security checks all over Mumbai and surrounding districts of Thane and Raigad. Some roads have also been blocked.

The development comes barely a couple of days after the Anti-Terrorist Squad nabbed two people in connection with the Feb 13 terror blast at Pune’s German Bakery on the eve of Valentines Day.