Family claim Mumbai bomb suspect tortured

MUMBAI police have prepared a sketch of a suspect they want to question over three bomb blasts in India's financial hub.

The drawing composed from eyewitness accounts will be circulated among officials investigating the blasts but will not be immediately released to the public.

Meanwhile, a man questioned by police in connection with the blasts died yesterday in Chembur, a Mumbai suburb.

Faiz Usmani's family alleged that he was tortured during the interrogation.

Police denied the charge but ordered an investigation.

"He was brought for questioning by the Chembur unit of Mumbai police. He was suffering from hypertension. The allegations of torture by police are absolutely untrue," said Nisar Tamboli, a police spokesman.

The three blasts on Wednesday killed 19 people and wounded 130. All three bombs that exploded at crowded places in Mumbai were packed inside metallic containers and triggered by digital timing devices, said Rakesh Maria, an investigator.

Mr Maria, who heads the anti-terrorism squad in Maharashtra, where Mumbai is state capital, said investigators could not name a specific outfit as responsible for the attacks.

However, investigators have been questioning two suspected members of the Indian Mujahideen, a banned Muslim group with links to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militants.