The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing Bardhaman blast, said on Friday that “investigation has revealed that the accused persons and their associates were members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, a terrorist organisation proscribed in Bangladesh.”
The NIA might announce cash reward for information on the absconding accused in the blast in Bardhaman district of West Bengal on October 2, NIA’s Director-General Sharad Kumar said after visiting the blast site on Friday.
“I visited Bardhaman and Murshidabad. I had a detailed discussion with my officers on evolving strategies for the arrest of the absconding persons,” Mr. Kumar told journalists in Kolkata.
Two persons -- Shakil Ahmed and Suvon Mandal – died in the blast. Four persons, including two women, are under the custody of the NIA.
The investigators are looking for Kausar and Rezaul Karim from whose house a cache of improvised explosives was recovered days after the blast. The NIA, in a statement, said that Shakil Ahmed and Suvon Mandal were “allegedly residents of Bangladesh” and “were killed while fabricating Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)”.
The investigating agency said the explosives made in the house, where the blast took place, were meant to be taken to Bangladesh.