Kolkata:When a bomb accidentally went off two months back on Oct 2 in what outwardly looked like a burqa tailoring shop in a semi-urban neighbourhood of Burdwan town, about 100 km from Kolkata, the inmates tried to pass it off as a cooking gas cylinder explosion. For days, the West Bengal government downplayed the incident. But the still unravelling mystery spanning beyond India’s borders has left everyone shocked.
Two months on, what has emerged on the radar is an international conspiracy purportedly involving a fanatic terror group from Bangladesh out to trigger mayhem in India through serial bombings and in Bangladesh by assass-inating Prime Minister Hasina Wazed and oppo-sition leader Khaleda Zia.
While investigators hold the Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh as the culprit, it was significant the explosions took place about a month after Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri announced the formation of its India wing to raise the flag of jihad across the Indian subcontinent.
Though unconfirmed, there have been reports and speculation about the hand of Al Qaeda and the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in the incident that prompted Dhaka to despatch senior officials from its intelligence and law enforcement agencies to talk to Indian investigators and interrogate the blast accused.
Half a dozen have been arrested in West Bengal in connection with the blast and two others for supplying SIM cards. A Myanmar man, Khalid Mohammed, was arrested from Hyderabad. Nine others were caught from Assam. In Bangladesh, six people were nabbed for their involvement in the blast while three are behind bars as accomplices.
Apart from uncovering the terror plot, the blasts have prompted the central and state governments to take a hard look at intelligence gathering and counter-terrorism in India, especially in West Bengal.
“The incident has to be thoroughly, meticulously investigated. Every lead must be followed. One has to be very careful because West Bengal has an open border with Bangladesh. Lots of people have relatives on both sides,” Singh told IANS.
But with the invest-igators and intelligence agencies generally keeping mum, speculation and rumours are rife. One example is the “discovery” of RDX at the site. Finally, the National Security Guard (NSG) issued a denial.
It was on the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, and amid Durga Puja festivities that the powerful explosion rocked a two-storeyed house during noon at Khagragarh in Burdwan.
As locals rushed in, two women inmates claimed a gas cylinder had gone off and tried to prevent them from entering by threatening to open fire. But when police arrived they found two bodies and another injured person lying in a pool of blood.
Besides some explosives, police seized several tools, including watch dials, required to make improvised explosive devices (IED), micro SD cards containing Islamist propaganda songs and Taliban training videos, and fake ID documents like electoral cards and passports. Maps and half-burnt books in Arabic too were recovered.(IANS)
