NIA likely to take over Burdwan blasts case

The Indian Home Ministry is likely to hand over the Burdwan blasts case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Government sources, however, told bdnews24.com that any such decision would be taken only by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is currently campaigning for Haryana and Maharastra Assembly election.

“The home minister will take the final call whether to hand over the case (Burdwan blasts) to the NIA or not," said a senior home ministry official on condition of anonymity.

Although, the opposition in West Bengal mainly the BJP and the Left Front have been demanding for a probe into the Burdwan blasts by a central intelligence agency, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) government is reluctant to go for such a probe.

Initial reports suggest that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was involved in the blasts that took place on Oct 2.

Two suspected militants Shakil Ahmed and Shovon Mandal were killed and another Hasan Saheb was injured in the explosion. The security forces were able to nab two women, who were allegedly members of the JMB.

The security forces recovered grenades, chemicals used in making explosives, a book on how to trigger explosion, jihadi literature, a video on jihadi training and a diagram of important locations in Burdwan district from the blasts side.

Security agencies also suspect JMB’s connection with terror groups like the Indian Mujahiddin and the al Qaeda.

The blasts and suspected involvement of the Bangladesh based terror groups (JMB) have put the security agencies of both the countries into tizzy.

The incident has raised a question mark on the real time intelligence sharing between the intelligence departments of India and Bangladesh.