Burdwan blast: Are Mamata govt, Bengal cops feigning ignorance or turning a blind eye

On 2 October, an explosion occurred a two-storeyed building in the Khagragarh locality of Burdwan in West Bengal. According to reports, two suspected militants — Shakil Ahmed and Sovan Mandal — were killed in the explosion while another Hasan Saheb was injured. Slew of arrests were made in a week’s time. Two women — Rajira Bibi and Amina — were arrested from the explosion site for resisting police entry and destroying critical evidence. Both women in their early twenties are the widow of suspected militants Shakil Ahmed and Hasan Saheb respectively. Almost a week after the explosion and a few arrests, the West Bengal government has still not slapped any terrorism charges or serious offence charges against those accused in the incident, according to a report in Hindustan Times.  The accused have been merely charged with “causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means, attempt to murder and destroying evidence among others.” The reaction of the West Bengal government or the state police is shocking as the accidental explosion of 2 October could have thwarted a possible serious terrorist strike on West Bengal. [caption id=“attachment_1749491” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] The report added that the serious terrorism charges were not slapped so that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is kept at bay from investigating the case. Speaking to HT on condition of anonymity, an NIA official said:

“None of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) provisions that deal with terror and anti-national activities have been evoked”

But this is just the tip of the iceberg if you start counting the major loopholes in the case. In an earlier Firspost article , author Sandip Roy notes how the Burdwan Blast is a bigger issue than it is actually made out to be. Recovered cache of bombs were detonated (not defused) by the state police on the orders of the Bengal DGP even before the NIA could reached the blast site. Ved Marwah, former director-general of the elite anti-terror force, NSG, told Telegraph:

“It’s a criminal offence and the police seniors who gave the order should be prosecuted for criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence."

By blowing up the remaining cache, the Bengal police not only showed stupidity but they also destroyed crucial evidence which could have helped agencies identify the terror outfit. The state police although said detonating cache is the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Former director-general of the BSF and Uttar Pradesh police, Prakash Singh, however, told The Telegraph that if Bengal police was following SOP, they should have consulted the Intelligence Bureau whether to defuse or detonate the bombs.

“Without any potential for danger, there can be no question of detonation. The police cannot decide on their own without consulting experts… Going by their unexplained haste, it seems the state police did not want to let the matter go into the public domain,” Singh told Telegraph.

The lack of NIA’s involvement in the case is also bizarre. In a report in The Hindu, a senior Union home ministry official said that the government is undecided on the agency’s involvement in the case. According to the report, Mamata’s government had not even approached the NIA to probe the case but according to a senior official of NIA that is not a problem. The article noted:

The NIA Act of 2008 says that if the Central Government is of the “opinion” that an offence is required “to be investigated under NIA Act, it may suo motu direct the Agency to investigate.” “So, we do not need a go-ahead from any State Government to investigate the Burdwan blast under the Act,” said the Home Ministry official.

The Trinamool government and the West Bengal police’s reaction after the blast came under much of flak as well.  The Left Front and the BJP alleged a nexus between the Mamata government and the militants. BJP secretary Siddharth Nath Singh had earlier said:

“We can safely conclude that West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee’s rule has become a safe haven for anti-national elements and Jihadi activities." 

Prakash Singh raised questions on the government’s role and how it should have informed the agency which is the pivotal body in handling terror-related cases. NIA director Sharad Kumar confirmed that the West Bengal government had not asked for assistance in the case. As of now, the Burdwan blast case is shrouded by many mysterious questions which have not been answered. The fact, that the owner of the building which blew up Nurul Hasan Chowdhary was a Trinamool Congress leader — and lived across the street and that the ground floor of the building was used as the TMC party office — cannot be ignored. Speculations are many but answers are really few.