National Investigation Agency cracks Patna blasts case, says Narendra Modi was target

NEW DELHI: After staying silent in its chargesheet in April on whether Narendra Modi was the direct target of terrorists during his Hunkar rally in Patna, the National Investigation Agency ( NIA) on Wednesday categorically said it was the case.

NIA Director-General Sharad Kumar held a hurriedly-called press conference on Wednesday to announce the arrest of four alleged terrorists behind the Patna plot and said they had revealed that they had planned to hurt Modi. NIA had earlier charged eight persons for the Patna blasts and said the terrorists wanted to create panic and stampede in the crowd.

“Definitely the conspiracy was to harm Modiji. The people whom we have arrested earlier in the Patna blast case had said that they had recced Modi's rallies and went there to see how to get near him,” Kumar said on Wednesday. “The terrorists had carried out dry runs at four places— Akbarpur, Kanpur, Delhi and Patna—and finally chose Patna, probably due to the thin security cover there,” he added.

One of the bombs at Patna, NIA officials say, was planted just 100 metres away from Modi's Dias but did not explode, only to be recovered the next day by police. The Bihar government then was slammed by the BJP for poor security arrangements at the rally.

Those, whose arrests were announced on Wednesday, include the alleged mastermind of the plot, Hyder Ali alias 'Black Beauty', Mojibullah, Numan Ansari and a juvenile. NIA said the same module was behind the blasts at Bodh Gaya last year and hence both cases stand solved. NIA says the said module has close links with the Indian Mujahedeen terror group. NIA also says the the said terror module and IM had their masters abroad and the module here was taking directions from them.