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Centre hands over Burdwan explosion case to NIA

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Considering the gravity of the crime and its broad ramifications, the Union home ministry suo motu handed over the Burdwan explosion case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Highly placed sources said the decision to handover the case to NIA was unilaterally taken by the Union home ministry in the national interest after seeing the clear footprints of a larger terror angle. Union home minister Rajnath Singh gave the nod after being briefed by the home secretary about the case on telephone.

The trigger for the decision came as Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) stumbled upon fresh evidence suggesting that the IEDs that were being manufacturing at Khagragarh house factory were also sent to Assam. Sources said based on the inputs on central agencies, Assam Police has apprehended two people.

The lead came when trying to unearth the conspiracy, the IB and RAW understood picked up four suspected Bangladeshi nationals who were already on their radar for being part of arms syndicate run from Bangladeshi soil.

"This means that the explosives in the making were meant for domestic consumption instead of for Bangladesh as alleged by the accomplice of persons who died in the blast. Interrogation and further probe is expected to unearth the larger conspiracy and the possible role of people from the political class," sources said.

Though the West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee so far refused to hand over the explosion case to the NIA, it had little in hand to defend its stand now, especially when the West Bengal police itself included sections of the unlawful activities prevention Act (UAP Act) in the FIR.

Union home ministry sources said the nature of explosion, place, nationality (Bangladeshi) of the suspects and video footage of the recovered material were enough material for the Centre to decide and give the case to the central agency to probe.

"Until now we were awaiting West Bengal government's decision to handover the case to NIA that is much more professional in handling such cases," said ministry sources.

The central security agencies are also looking keenly at the plausibility of the involvement of some politicians in the larger conspiracy. "We cannot tell more than this until we get some solid evidence," the source said.

Earlier, analysis of video footage had startled the security agencies. "The rocket launcher in the making was highly sophisticated and was 80% completed. The circuit board meant for the explosive device was extremely advanced. We have not found such an advanced circuit board anywhere in India so far. No outfit be it the Indian Mujahideen (IM) or the LeT has ever used such a kind of circuit board," said sources in the agencies.

The highly sophisticated and advance nature of explosive devices in the making has made the agencies apprehensive of Bangladeshi terror outfits not only getting a foothold in West Bengal but also being in active touch with international terror groups.

As pamphlets and leaflets supporting al-Qaeda and Chechen rebels were also recovered from the site, the agencies are also looking at the larger conspiracy angle and trying to figure out if it connects with the al Qaeda's India branch Qaedat-al -Jihad about which al Qaeda chief Ayman al Jawahiri had boasted in a recent video message.

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