Burdwan, West Bengal: Two women were arrested and a man detained on Sunday in connection with the Burdwan blast in West Bengal that left two suspected militants dead even as ruling TMC, BJP and CPI-M were locked in a blame game over the incident in which role of terror groups is being probed.
Burdwan Superintendent of Police S M H Mirza said the two women--Rajira Bibi alias Rumi hailing from Karimpur in Nadia and Amina Bibi from Lalbagh in Murshidabad--were arrested from Khagragarh this morning. Later, another person identified as Hatij Mollah was detained by a CID team from his house at Khar Duttapa in Purbostholi, about 70 km from Burdwan.
Mirza said the two women were produced before a Burdwan court which sent them to police custody for nine days. They had been detained on the day of the blast on October 2 in a house in Khagragarh in Burdwan town. Rajira Bibi is the widow of suspected militant Shakil Ahmed, who was killed in the explosion while Amina Bibi is the wife of Hasan Saheb, who was critically injured in the blast and is under treatment at Burdwan Medical College and Hospital. The second dead man was identified as Sovan Mandal.
Investigation is on course, we are sure to get to the bottom of this: Basudeb Banerjee (Secy, Home) on Burdwan blast
— ANI (@ANI_news) October 5, 2014The CID of West Bengal police is looking into possible involvement of terror outfits like LeT and HuJI in the blast. Mirza said that 55 grenades, chemicals used in making explosives, a book on how to trigger explosions, some jihadi literature, a video on jihadi training, map of important locations in Burdwan district were seized by the CID team from the house.
A large number of watch dials, SIM cards and other tools required to make improvised explosive devices were seized from the house immediately after the explosion, he said, raising suspicions that the victims of the explosion were associated with a militant outfit. The suspected militants had rented the house a few months back and the police had also questioned the house owner Hasan Chowdhury, police sources said.
The BJP accused the Mamata Banerjee government of turning West Bengal into a safe haven for anti-national and Jihadi activities. Citing the Burdwan blast, it charged the state government with destroying the evidence and not handing it over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for probe. BJP Secretary Siddharth Nath Singh alleged that the Burdwan police instead of handing over to the NIA the materials recovered, took away the entire evidence and destroyed it.
"Why was the NIA informed almost a day late?" he asked at a news conference in Delhi. Posing questions to Banerjee, Singh sought clarifications on whether or not the house from where the recoveries were made belonged to a TMC cadre. "Did it not have a TMC office on the ground floor?" he asked. "We can safely conclude that West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee's rule has become a safe haven for anti-national elements and Jihadi activities."
West Bengal Left Front Chairman Biman Bose alleged a nexus between the Trinamool Congress and the two dead men, a charge denied by the TMC leadership.
"We have come to know that both the tenants and the landlord of the house at Khagragarh locality of the town where the explosion took place are close to the TMC. It is an ominous sign for us," the CPI-M leader told reporters in Kolkata.
TMC denied any connection between the party and those involved in the explosion and said CPI (M) and BJP were making irresponsible comments to create unrest in 'peaceful' West Bengal.
"Both the CPI (M) and BJP are trying to create unrest in the state at a juncture when the Durga Puja festival has just ended and Eid is to be celebrated tomorrow," TMC national general secretary Mukul Roy told newspersons in Kolkata.
