KARACHI, May 12: Police have taken two brothers in protective custody to verify, through DNA test, their belief that the head found at the scene of the Nishtar Park bomb blast could be their third brother, sources said on Friday.

The two brothers, the elder one identifying himself as Riasat, approached the police with the claim that their third brother, Amjad Khan, was missing since April 11, apprehensively admitting that the sketch of the severed head resembled to Amjad’s face.

According to them, Amjad Khan had left their house in Bhatti Colony on April 11 for offering prayers and said that he would then go to attend a congregation in connection with the Eid Miladun Nabi.

Sources said that the two brothers were seemingly nervous while trying to recognise the sketch of the severed head, at times admitting that it did resemble their brother’s face and then retracting from their statement.

They told police that Amjad had been attending the religious gathering at Faizan-i-Madina and would often stay away from their home for 10-15 days in connection with similar gatherings. But this time, they said, he had not returned home as yet.

Sources in the police department said that if the DNA test turned out to be positive, the possibility of a suicide bomber other than the one whose severed head was in police custody could be taken seriously.

Meanwhile, police investigators were still divided over the identity of the perpetrator of the blast.

Well-placed sources said that a piece of the right part of a head was also found at the scene, besides the severed head believed to have been of the suicide bomber.

They said that the piece of the head had not been given much importance, rather, Edhi volunteers had been asked to bury the same along with remains of other victims. No medical or DNA test was carried out on that piece of head.

An investigator, on condition of anonymity, stated that all the bodies collected from the scene of the blast had been examined and it was noted that the heads of all these bodies appeared intact.

“We believe that the suicide bomber was someone else, and not the one whose severed head is in the custody. He may be present very close to the actual suicide bomber at the time of the blast and may have been blown into pieces.”

Besides, the investigators have also interrogated many suspects, belonging to the banned Lahskar-i-Jhangvi, already languishing in prisons.

They were interrogated in the office of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) which has been declared a sub-jail.

Although the investigators have so far failed to find a clue to the perpetrators of the blast, some of them believe that the Nishtar Park incident is the direct fallout of a sectarian clash that had taken place in Bara area on January 16 leaving many people dead and injured.