Tripura police misleading people on Agartala blasts: TPDF

Agartala, Oct 19 (UNI) With the proscribed All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) denying responsibility for the Agartala serial blasts a fortnight after its occurrence, the success claim of Tripura police in cracking the case has been questioned by political circles and tribal communities.

In a statement issued here yesterday, the ATTF's political front Tripura People's Democratic Front (TPDF) denied the police claim that it was behind the October 1 serial blasts and demanded intervention of international human rights bodies to find out the perpetrators.

It said the ATTF did not have any existence any more, as TPDF had changed the name of ATTF to Revolutionary People's Army (RPA) in 2003, adding that no member of RPA was involved in the blasts.

The statement criticised the role of police in the investigation and and indicated that police had been trying to mislead the citizens by blaming a non-existent outfit.

Earlier, Director General of Tripura Police Pranay Sahay claimed that ATTF was responsible for the serial blasts while the ULFA, proficient in executing high power explosions, had extended logistic support and the Pakistan-based ISI trained them in Bangladesh to carry out the serial blasts.

Mr Sahay said two senior cadres of ULFA had visited ATTF hideout at Satcherri in Bangladesh and imparted training after hiring ISI expertise on how to handle high power explosives like IEDs, Ammonium Nitrate and Fuel Oil.

The investigation revealed that explosives were brought into Agartala from ATTF camp at Satcherri during the last week of September on three different occasions and had been assembled in a rented house at Bhati Abhaynagar area of Agartala before being planted in five thickly populated areas.

He, however, made it clear that besides ISI, no evidence of Jihadi groups or international terrorists' involvement had so far been revealed in Agartala serial blasts. It was also exposed that ISI activists were involved in guerrilla training and motivating the Northeastern militants, including ATTF, on Bangladesh soil.

Meanwhile, soon after the TPDF's denial, Opposition tribal party Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) renewed its demand of CBI enquiry into Agartala serial blasts and said police had been torturing the innocent tribal youths, alleging their involvement in the incident.

INPT general secretary Rabindra Debbarma said police had become ''hyper-active'' against the tribal youths suddenly after the blasts and held ATTF responsible and was arresting tribal youths.

''We don't believe these youths could use the explosives along with chemicals like Ammonium nitrate, which were connected to mobile phones with active SIM cards and batteries,'' Mr Debbarma said, adding that these all were only an eyewash.

Meanwhile, state Congress president Samir Ranjan Barman said, ''It is the intelligence failure of the state government because as per the DGP's statement, the miscreants prepared the bombs in the heart of the city for a month but they failed to get any clue about the incident. However, within a week of the blasts they were able to nail the culprits. It is simply a lie.'' Mr Barman also alleged that it was a trick of the Left Front government to prove that the party did not have any links with HuJI activist Mamun Mian, a resident of Bangladesh, who was arrested by West Bengal police from Agartala, following which Tripura Food Minister Sahid Choudhury had been forced to resign from the sixth Left Front Ministry for his alleged association with Mamun. UNI BB DPM RD 1211