| Wednesday , December 3 , 2014 |
NIA deputes biggest team- Blast probe to take 4-5 months | ||
| OUR BUREAU | ||
Calcutta, Nov. 2: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has deployed one of its biggest teams to probe the Burdwan blast and could take four to five months to reach a possible conclusion, the central outfit’s second-in-command said during a visit to Bengal today. “It is difficult to specify a time frame but we would require some four to five months before we can arrive at a possible conclusion even though the probe can still go on,” NIA special director Navneet Wasan told reporters during an interaction at the CRPF camp in Salt Lake, where investigative agency sleuths probing the October 2 “accidental” blast have set up a temporary base. “But let it be clear that one of the biggest teams of the NIA is at work in Bengal, probing this case,” Wasan added during his first visit to the state since the blast, which blew the lid off terror modules operating in Bengal. NIA sources said the agency’s team had at least six superintendents of police, six deputy superintendents, three deputy inspectors-general and one inspector-general. Around 80 junior officers have fanned out to different districts in connection with the probe. Wasan refused comment when asked about chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s allegation that the Indian spy agency RAW could be involved in the blast. “Who has said about the RAW? Is it the DGP or an IGP? We talk only to the police and I would not know what anyone else is saying,” he said. Wasan said he had no plans of meeting any Bengal government official. During a visit to the state in late October, NIA director Sharad Kumar and national security adviser Ajit Doval, whom Trinamul later labelled “a known RSS sympathiser”, met the chief minister at Nabanna. The NIA took over the Burdwan blast probe seven days after the explosion, in which two suspected members of the terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) died. The central agency, which has drawn up a list of 12 untraceable suspects and announced cash rewards of up to Rs 10 lakh for information leading to their arrest, has picked up eight persons. “We are on the lookout for another 20 people in connection with the blast. The number may go up as the investigation progresses. The team has so far done quite a commendable job though you must admit that it is a very tedious process,” Wasan told reporters. “One of the hurdles we initially faced was lack of officials conversant with Bengali. Besides, the NIA didn’t have any office in Bengal. Some of the senior officers have not met their families for weeks,” the agency’s special director added. Wasan sought to know if there were rules governing the setting up of educational institutions in Bengal. “Is there a law for setting up a school or any other educational institution in Bengal? Different states have different rules — like the building has to be either kuccha or pucca. What is it out here?” he asked the journalists. Several of the blast suspects are believed to have imparted extremist training at an unaffiliated madarsa in Burdwan. Sources in the education department said to open a madarsa, a no-objection certificate (NOC) has to be obtained from the state madarsa board. Board sources said there was no system of tracking the functioning of unaffiliated madarsas. The education department sources said to set up a private pre-primary, primary or secondary school, the department’s NOC is required. Based on the nature of the proposed institution, the department forwards the appeal to the board concerned. In case of pre-primary and primary schools, the appeal is forwarded to the state primary education board. In case of secondary schools, the proposal is sent to the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. NOCs are issued following inspection. Kirnahar scan An NIA team last night took Burdwan blast accused Sajid to several places in Birbhum’s Kirnahar, where several JMB operatives are believed to have lived. Among the places the NIA team visited was a sawmill at Khujutipara village in Nanoor, 10km from Kirnahar. Sources in the agency said members of the JMB had imparted training in firearms at the mill, whose location was revealed by Sajid during questioning. NIA officers said Sajid, the JMB’s alleged point man in Bengal, used to frequent villages in Birbhum from nearby Murshidabad and scouted for youths to be imparted extremist indoctrination. The team last night travelled on the same road that Sajid used to take between Murshidabad and Kirnahar. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1141203/jsp/bengal/story_19160938.jsp#.VH54u9KUeSo |
