Patna blasts were meant to terrorize people: Bihar Government

PATNA: Bihar government today said that the bomb blast and subsequent recovery of high power Improvised Explosive Device (IEDs) here were part of a conspiracy to terrorize the city and extort money from the people.

The government also said the involvement of criminal elements connected with naxal organisation People's Liberation Front of India ( PLFI), which is active in neighbouring Jharkhand, has come to light and efforts are on to nab all the people involved in the incident.

"The investigations till now indicate that main accused of the incident, Kundan Kumar and a few other criminal elements wanted to use the IEDs in the state capital to create an atmosphere of terror and extort money from the people. The IEDs were brought from Jharkhand," Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said.

Chaudhary was speaking while presenting the statement of the Bihar government in the Legislative Assembly on the bomb blast and subsequent recovery of two IEDs from an MIG flat in Bahadurpur Housing Colony in the state capital on March 30.

An FIR in the case was registered at Agamkuan police station in the city under various sections of Indian Penal Code, Explosive Materials Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Nobody was killed or injured in the incident. Opposition BJP had demanded government's version on the blast on April 1.

Meanwhile, Bihar Police achieved a breakthrough in the case when they arrested main accused Kundan from Ekangarsarai area in Nalanda district on April 3. Subsequently, his four associates were also nabbed and sent to judicial custody.