Oct. 10: Bengal police today stirred another controversy after an officer was found removing items from the blast site in Burdwan on a day the National Investigation Agency (NIA) formally took over the probe into the incident.
An assistant sub-inspector from Burdwan police station, Pulak Mondal, entered the Khagragarh flat where the blast took place on October 2 and left the two-storey building carrying several items in a bag around the same time NIA representatives met their CID counterparts in Calcutta this morning.
Sources said Mondal had picked up a pair of gloves, a blood-stained shirt, a sample of chemicals and a few pieces of wire. Eyewitnesses said Mondal had walked into the flat around 11.30am and was inside for around 10 minutes.
“These items have been collected for tests in the Central Forensic Science Laboratory,” said Akash Munshi, a sub-inspector at the Burdwan police station who was also the first investigating officer of the case before the criminal investigation department (CID) took over the probe.
When reporters asked him how the police could remove the items after the probe had been handed over to the NIA, Munshi said that the district police had no information about the central agency having taken charge.
“We will continue to assist the CID and there is nothing wrong in it. We will visit the site again with members of the bomb squad and as a reporter you can come along,” he told the journalists.
The Burdwan police also failed to co-operate with a senior military intelligence official who had turned up today at the police station to gather information on the blast.
The alacrity in removing the items raised questions about the role of the district police, who had been accused of “tampering with evidence” after they detonated all the explosive items they had found in the flat last Thursday.
Senior NIA officers expressed shock when they heard about the removal. A senior NIA officer in Calcutta told The Telegraph: “This can’t happen. We will take it up with the CID during our meeting with them tomorrow.”
This is the second time police in Bengal have launched pre-emptive action before a probe by a central agency. The Bidhannagar police were accused of breaking open lockers belonging to Saradha owner Sudipta Sen’s wife before the Enforcement Directorate got there.
NIA officials today registered a fresh FIR in the blast case in Delhi invoking several provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. They said there was circumstantial evidence to show the accused were part of the Bangladesh terror network Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen.
“Our team today collected documents on the case along with a copy of the FIR filed by the CID,” NIA director Sharad Kumar said.
A three-member NIA team today met Ramphal Pawar, ADG of the CID, and other officers for over three hours to complete the formalities of case transfer.
“We also moved court seeking permission to take custody of the arrested and it has been granted. We will take custody of all the four on Monday,” said an officer. “In keeping with the NIA Act, 2008, the state government would have to provide support to the NIA in ensuring the security of those arrested.”
Armed with the court order later in the day, the NIA officers met their counterparts again and left after taking photographs of all the three in CID custody — Gulshan Bibi, Alima Bibi and Hasem Molla. The fourth, Abdul Hakim, is admitted to SSKM Hospital.
Officials of the federal agency, which also got court clearance to conduct searches, charged Bengal police with conducting a shoddy investigation and failing to follow guidelines in securing the crime scene.
Security expert Ved Marwah said the probe would be a challenge for the NIA as important pieces of evidence (the cache of explosives) had been destroyed.
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