Mumbai, July 16 (IANS) Claiming to have secured "solid leads" in the 13/7 blasts here, a top Mumbai police officer said Saturday that the investigations are now moving in "a certain direction" and the sketch of a suspect will be ready soon.


This has been made possible by a witness to the incident at one of the three locations, said Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Rakesh Maria.

But he declined to pinpoint the blast location, out of Zaveri Bazar, Opera House and Dadar Kabutarkhana, where the suspect was seen by the witness.

He revealed that using CCTV footage from one of the blast sites, police zeroed in on the image of an individual - a possible suspect.

"It needs further verification, our teams are on the job. The images are grainy and we are taking help of technical experts to get better images," Maria said.

He explained that checking each and every frame of a large volume of CCTV footage was a tedious job. There are many people in each frame and police are taking the help of locals to identify them, in a bid to isolate those who cannot be identified.

Maria said that the role or involvement of the underworld in the explosions, which left 19 dead and over 100 injured Wednesday evening, was being examined.

He denied involvement of a suicide bomber in the explosions which were the first terrorist attack in the financial hub of the country after 26/11.

He said police teams were rushed to Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, New Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan for investigations, which have now assumed pan-India proportions.

He refused to comment on the terror group or organisation which could have carried out the blasts.

"Only after our investigations are completed and we have the accused in hand, I will be in a position to say anything. We are examining all angles, all possibilities," Maria said.

Maria said investigators indicated the use of ammonium nitrate and metallic containers in the blasts at all the three sites, but the final forensic reports were awaited.