West Bengal: NIA chief monitors probe into Burdwan blast

Kolkata, Oct 23: NIA Director General Sharad Kumar today took stock of the progress in the investigation in the Burdwan blast case.

Kumar arrived here this morning and left for Burdwan where he met NIA investigators and assessed the progress in the probe into the blast at Khagragarh in Burdwan town on October 2 that claimed the lives of two suspected terrorists of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh.

Three persons, including two women - one of them the widow of a suspected terrorist who died in the blast, had been interrogated by NIA.

Taking over the probe of the blast following a directive by the Union Home Ministry, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had secured custody of Hasem Molla alias Badru Alam Molla, Razia Bibi and Alima Bibi on October 13.

A three-member NIA team had also visited the blast site on Sunday to look into allegations that an office of the ruling Trinamool Congress was located there.NIA is probing "link" between October 2 blast in Burdwan district of West Bengal and the gang involved in a robbery at an SBI branch in Karimnagar district of Telangana in February.

"Yes, the links between this gang and the Burdwan group, if any, are being probed. The agency is trying to find out if there are any links," an National Investigation Agency (NIA) official told PTI.The Burdwan blast case pertains to an explosion at a rented house at Khagragarh in Burdwan town on October 2 in which two men believed to be members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh died.

The case is being investigated by the NIA's Kolkata branch after it registered a case.

PTI