Burdwan blast probe: BJP raises questions over Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's intention

KOLKATA: A day after the NIA recovered 40 improvised hand grenades from a house in Burdwan, BJP today wanted to know why West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had prevented the NIA from investigating the Burdwan blast for a crucial one week.

"Why did Mamata Banerjee prevent NIA investigation into the Burdwan blast for a week?" BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said at a party rally here.

"It is from the house, which was sealed eight days back by the state police, that a sackful of grenades were recovered by the NIA," he said.

"How could the state police not find the grenades when it sealed the house?" he asked while accusing the Burdwan district SP of not having done enough in connection with the probe.

Singh accused the ruling party of trying to hide Bangladeshi jihadi bombs after allegedly having tried the same about Saradha money.

"You were trying to hide Saradha money earlier and now you are trying to hide Bangladeshi jihadi bombs," Singh alleged.

"They are trying to make it a communal issue, but it is a case of national security and interest," Singh said referring to the TMC leadership's jibes against the BJP on the issue.

"People had brought change in Bengal to see better times and to celebrate Diwali with fervour, but what we hear now is only the sound of jihadi bombs," the BJP leader alleged.

The Centre on October 9 had decided to hand over to the NIA the probe into the bomb blast in Burdwan in West Bengal in which the role of terror groups is suspected, a decision which the Trinamool Congress government said was taken suo motu.