NIA officials begin probe at Kerala blast site

BJP legislator in the assembly O. Rajagopal expressed his ire by walking out of the house after alleging "absolute callousness" on the part of the government in probing such cases.

Malappuram (Kerala), Nov 2: A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials, probing a blast in Mysuru along with their Kerala counterparts, on Wednesday arrived at the Malappuram Collectorate premises where an explosion took place the previous day.

The bomb, kept in a pressure cooker, was placed besides the vehicle of a state government official who had come for a routine meeting at the District Collector's office. There were no casualties or damage in the incident.

IGP (Range) M.R. Ajithkumar, after inspecting the site, said they have recovered a pen drive and a map of India kept in a box with a slip bearing the name 'The Base Movement'.

"The pen drive contained visuals which were the same as in those recovered from blast sites in Kollam, Nellore and Mysuru. There were no personal references made in the pen drive or in the map. There is a warning also that such things can happen again. The state police chief is directly supervising the probe," said Ajithkumar.

On Tuesday, the Kerala Police probe team had already identified presence of ammonium nitrate, used in the bomb, which was used at the other three places also.

In the state assembly after the Congress-led opposition raised the issue on Wednesday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan assured the house that all necessary steps have been taken. Leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala said it should be ensured that 'one particular community' should not be targeted.

BJP legislator in the assembly O. Rajagopal expressed his ire by walking out of the house after alleging "absolute callousness" on the part of the government in probing such cases.

State BJP President Kummanam Rajasekharan called for a white paper on the progress of terror-related cases that have been registered in the state.

Contending that there was no serious probe into acts of terror like these he claimed that there were "several sleeping cells" of terror outfit in Kerala.

IANS