NIA to probe Bodh Gaya blast case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will probe the case related to the bomb blast in Bodh Gaya on January 19.

Two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were recovered outside the Mahabodhi Mahavihara in Bodh Gaya, where Tibetan spiritual guru Dalai Lama was giving sermons to a large number of Buddhists at the holy town in Bihar.

The move follows the arrest of three Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) operatives from Bengal, who have admitted that they visited Bodh Gaya and were part of the team which planted the IEDs.

The apprehended operatives have been identified as Paigambar Sheikh, Jameerul Sheikh and Shaish Mohammad.

The suspects were apprehended after Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) officials, who were investigating the hard disks of a cyber cafe, stumbled upon records related to the blast.

The cafe was one that Ahmedabad blast accused Tauseef  used to visit often in Gaya.  

The ATS men had shared  details with the NIA, which helped them crack the IED recovery case, nab the suspects and identify the sleeper cells of the terror outfit operating in Bihar, Bengal and Delhi.

"The documents related to the Bodh Gaya blast case have been handed over to the NIA," said a senior police officer, who added that an FIR in this case was earlier lodged at the Bodh Gaya police station and the police there had been investigating the case till now.

A special team of Gaya police had also interrogated the JMB suspects arrested from Bengal.

Sources further said that a copy of the FIR had been submitted in the special NIA court. "The NIA has registered a case and started investigation," the source said.

The Mahabodhi temple, where the two IEDs were detected, is also a Unesco world heritage site. The holy town had witnessed serial blasts in 2013, too.