Seventy more bombs were recovered in Malda on Friday, even as National Investigation Agency (NIA) officers with the help of the National Security Guard (NSG) team detonated 40 improvised hand grenades, which they recovered during an investigation from Burdwan.
The crude bombs were recovered from near a bamboo grove in 16 Mile area in Malda district. Villagers informed the Kaliachak Police Station about the crude bombs this morning and the police inspected the spot and called in the bomb squad.
The recovery comes a day after the NIA on Thursday unearthed a sack containing 40 improvised hand grenades from a store room in a house in Burdwan where an explosion killed two persons on October 2 in which the involvement of a Bangladesh-based terror group is suspected, police said.The hand grenades were detonated by the NSG at a place near Sadar Ghat outside Burdwan town on Thursday night and two improvised hand grenades have been kept at Burdwan Police lines for investigation, officers said.
NIA officers were assisted by the NSG team in safe disposal of the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and efforts have been on to trace the absconding individual from whose house the grenades were seized, a Press release from NIA said.The NIA investigators, along with Burdwan district policemen, recovered the IEDs during a search of the house of one Rezaul Karim located at Mathpara on Badshahi Road near Khagragarh where the accidental explosion on October 2 killed two persons.
Facing flak from different quarters over shoddy investigation by the State police, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said: “We have no problem with the NIA probe. We just want the Centre to consult us before taking any decision.”
“We want the truth to come out” she said and warned the BJP, without naming the party, against linking the incident with religion. “Criminals are criminals. They do not have caste, creed or religion. Terrorists are terrorists and there can be no compromise with terrorism,” Banerjee told reporters at party headquarters after a meeting attended by MPs, Ministers and MlAs.
Mamata had earlier expressed reservation over the Centre’s decision of ordering a NIA probe into the blast, in which terror links are suspected, suo motu without informing the State Government.
Attacking the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said at a party rally here: “Why did Mamata Banerjee prevent an NIA investigation into the Burdwan blast for a weekIJ How could the State police not find the grenades when it sealed the houseIJ”
He accused the Burdwan district SP of not having done enough in connection with the probe. Singh also accused the ruling party of trying to hide Bangladeshi jehadi bombs after allegedly having tried the same with Saradha money.“You were trying to hide Saradha money earlier and now you are trying to hide Bangladeshi jehadi bombs,” Singh alleged.