Questioning West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s opposition to the inquiry by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the October 2 blast at Khagragarh in Bardhaman district, national secretary of BJP Siddharth Nath Singh demanded to know why the State government had not initiated an inquiry in the blast.
Mr. Singh said: “The NIA charge sheet stated that the districts of Nadia, Murshidabad, Bardhaman and Birbhum were used by terrorists as training camps… Till date, why haven’t you [Ms. Banerjee] investigated [into the blast] and suspended the police officials and district magistrates of these districts? How come terror footprints are spreading in your regime? Who ordered the Superintendent of Police of Bardhaman to destroy the IED — a vital evidence — in the room where the blast occurred?”
Ms. Banerjee played a “dirty game of politics” and accused the BJP of communalisation when the blast occurred, he said and alleged that she was “trading national security for vote bank politics.”
“She took the cover of a communal angle to hide the faults of her governance,” Mr. Singh said. He wondered if the Chief Minister would admit the blast was a case of breach of national security.
Custody of key accused extended
A lower court extended the NIA custody of key accused in the blast case Abdul Wahab Momin by 11 days. He is one of the accused in the case in which militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh is suspected to be involved.
The NIA arrested him from the city on March 21 and he was earlier remanded to 10 days of NIA custody.
