Centre asks West Bengal government to give adequate security to NIA team

NEW DELHI: The Centre has asked West Bengal government to provide adequate security to the National Investigation Team camping in Kolkata for probing the Burdwan blast case and asked for a detailed report about the incident.

Two crude bombs were hurled at the CRPF campus last evening at Salt Lake where the NIA team is stationed and carrying out investigation into the October 2 blast in Burdwan town.

While Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate are claiming crackers were used to play a mischief official sources said the state government had been asked not to take the incident lightly and share all the evidence with central security agencies.

Bidhannagar City Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar said earlier in the day that "prima facie there is no evidence of bomb blast as we have not found smell of explosives or remnants.

"We have found one or two eye witnesses and it is likely that crackers could have been used to play mischief."

The central security agencies will also be looking into the CCTV footage at the Technopolis bus stand which is close to the CRPF camp, they said.

The crude bombs blast came close on the heels of NIA making a headway with the arrest of two important cadres of banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) including self-styled Chief Commander of the terror group Sajid, a Bangladeshi national, on Saturday and main procurer of explosive material Amjad Sheikh yesterday.

Sources did not rule out the possibility of JMB members making a desperate attempt to secure the release of Sajid and Sheikh or kill them so that the actual plan of the group remained a secret.

The Union Home Ministry has asked for a detailed report about the incident and also asked the state government to ensure complete security of the NIA officials as well as during the time when the accused are taken in and out of courts, the sources said.

CRPF has also been asked to assist NIA in case of any eventuality, they added.