Mamata promises NSA to fight terror

Kolkata:India's top security and intelligence brass led by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval Monday inspected the Burdwan blast site and met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who promised full cooperation in solving the case in which militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) is purportedly involved.

Meanwhile, a city court sent one of the accused in the case to judicial remand till Nov 5 after the National Investigative Agency (NIA) - probing the blast - deposed it did not need him in its custody now.

Doval, accompanied by National Security Guard (NSG) chief J.N. Choudhury and NIA Director General Sharad Kumar, went round the house in Khagragarh in Burdwan district where an explosion Oct 2 killed two JMB militants and injured another.

The NSA, along with Choudhury and special secretary of internal security in the union home ministry Prakash Mishra, later flew down to Kolkata and discussed the issue with Banerjee and key state government officials at the state secretariat.

After the meeting, Mishra said the Centre has taken the matter "very seriously" and would take the case to its logical end. He also denied that the state agencies were not cooperating with the investigation.

Briefing media persons, Mishra asserted that Doval's visit was aimed at giving a professional touch to the investigation, and said the Bengal government has assured full cooperation.

"The government of India has taken the case very seriously. That is why the NSA, a professional police officer who has dealt with terror case in the past, has been sent to give a professional touch to the case.

"We met the chief minister and discussed the issue with her. We are happy to say that the CM and the West Bengal government have assured us that the Centre and the state will work together in unearthing the entire case and take all kinds of action to see that such cases are investigated properly and prevented in future," Mishra said.

He said the state government has pledged support to the fight against terrorism and asserted that the case will be brought to a logical end.

"We all go with that assurance that the state and the centre are together in this fight against terror and this case will be taken to its logical end. We have the full cooperation of the police of Bengal and all other agencies working here," he said.

Mishra said the centre will work towards improving the capacity of the state and the central agencies involved in the case.

Denying any non-cooperation by state investigating agencies, Doval said: "We have resolved to work together and investigate the case."

The visit by the security and intelligence chiefs follows Sharad Kumar's Oct 24 visit to the blast site.

The Banerjee government had earlier vehemently opposed an NIA probe.

However, the union home ministry Oct 9 directed the central agency to take over the probe.

City sessions court chief judge M. Mumtaz Khan, who remanded Hasem Mollah to 10 days in judicial custody, allowed the NIA to quiz him whenever it needed him as part of the probe.

Khan had Oct 22 despatched Mollah to the NIA's remand till Oct 31 for interrogation.

But the NIA moved court Monday saying he could be sent to judicial custody.

Besides the arrest of six people in Bengal, six others were held in Assam for their involvement. The NIA is also probing the link between the Burdwan blast and a bank robbery in Telangana's Karimnagar.

NIA officials earlier in the month visited Choppadandi village in Karimnagar district, where four armed men looted Rs.46 lakh from a State Bank of India (SBI) branch in February.

The agency is also mulling announcing cash rewards for any information leading to the arrest of the absconding accused in the case, which include JMB members from Bangladesh.