Denying >reports that the Tamil Nadu government had rejected the offer of help from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for investigating the May Day twin blasts on board the Bangalore-Guwahati Express at the Chennai Central railway station, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said here on Friday that experts from the agency had reached Tamil Nadu to study the scene of crime.
In a statement here, Ms. Jayalalithaa said that on Thursday, to an offer made by a middle-level Union Home Ministry official to send bomb-disposal squads or bomb-defusing equipment, the State Home Secretary replied that Tamil Nadu would seek help, if required. “I would like to say that NIA experts well versed in cracking bomb blast cases have come to inspect the blast site,” she said.
Explaining the efforts made by the Tamil Nadu Police after the blasts that killed a young woman, Ms. Jayalalithaa said camera footage from all stops of the train from Bangalore to Chennai Central was being analysed to find out the place where the explosives were planted. “Preliminary inquiries have shown that the bomb may have had a timer device,” she said.
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She had ordered an inquiry by the State Crime Branch-CID.
The possibility of the blasts occurring in Andhra Pradesh had the train run on schedule was also being looked into.