VVIP visit, rain impede blast probe

Twenty minutes, ten blasts. This happened on Sunday from 5:40 am to 6 am. But more than 85 hours have elapsed, and the joint team of National Investigation Agency (NIA), National Security Guard (NSG) and the Anti-Terrorists Squad (ATS) have not been able to make a breakthrough in the serial blasts which rocked the holy town of Bodh Gaya.

The investigating team has gone through hours of CCTV footage but has not been able to pinpoint any suspects. On the basis of records in hotels, they had detained four persons, including Janata Dal-United leader Gunjan Patel, from the state capital on Tuesday, but let them off on Wednesday after their papers and other credentials were found to be genuine and in order.

Although the investigation is being carried out under the leadership of bright IPS officer Vikas Vaibhav, who had earlier served in Bihar, sources said heavy rain on Sunday poured cold water on the preliminary probe. The vital clues on the movement of suspects and blood stains were washed away in the downpour.

So inclement has the weather been that the special flight carrying the NIA and NSG team from Delhi to Bodh Gaya on Sunday had to return to the national capital. They were eventually sent to the incident site by a commercial flight. But by the time they reached Bodh Gaya, it was already 7 pm, more than 13 hours after the serial blasts.

Besides, the VVIP movements in the next three days have also reportedly disturbed the probe, with the police channelising its energy more on the safety aspect of leaders with Z-category security cover.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish was the first to reach the spot, followed by former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

On Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Rajnath Singh, flanked by Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad, visited the blast site. They were followed by Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday.

Sources said so immense was the pressure on the probe agency to crack the case that, before Shinde’s visit, it detained four people in Patna, so as to show “some breakthrough”.

The NIA team also tried to find out from where the local small cylinders and “Lotus” analogue watches were procured, but in vain. The unexploded bombs recovered from the spot showed that ammonium nitrate, sodium and potassium were packed inside the locally made 2.5-kg cylinders. Analogue watches with the brand-name “Lotus” were attached to each of them.

Questions puzzling the NIA

-Why was the blast timed around 5:40 am, when people around the temple would have been sparse?

-Why were small LPG cylinders used?

-Why was a bomb planted on a stationary bus and timed to go off when no passengers were on board?

- Unlike previous serial blasts, why has no terror outfit immediately claimed responsibility?