BJP steps up heat for NIA probe in Bengal blast

Stepping up the heat on the Mamata Banerjee government over the Oct 2 blast in West Bengal's Burdwan district, the BJP Tuesday said the ruling Trinamool Congress was intentionally preventing NIA probe to cover up its alleged terror links.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) national secretary and party observer for West Bengal, Siddharth Nath Singh said the state government's attitude towards the matter involving national security was becoming an embarrassment for the entire country.

"It has become now apparent that the Trinamool is trying to cover up its links with terror outfits, otherwise why it is so opposed to the NIA stepping in. By belittling an issue concerning the nation's security, the Mamata Banerjee government is causing embarrassment for the entire nation," Singh told IANS.

With investigating agencies suspecting the involvement of international terror outfits in the explosion in a house in Khagragarh in the district that killed two suspected militants, the BJP as well as the CPI-M have been clamouring for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to step in.

Referring to Banerjee's demand for an NIA probe into the affairs of premier resort, Vedic Village, on the northern outskirts of the city, where arms were found after it was burnt down by a mob on Aug 23, 2009, Singh questioned the chief minister's reluctance for the central agency's intervention.

"As the then opposition leader, she had demanded an NIA probe in the Vedic Village case, but why this reluctance now when she is the chief minister? Is it because her party's links with terror outfits like the Jamaat-e-Islami will become apparent?" Singh posed.

The BJP leader also said the "Trinamool's links" with the Jamaat will adversely affect India's bilateral relations with Bangladesh.

Defending its decision to repose faith in the state police to crack down the case, the Trinamool has hit back at the BJP which has been demanding an NIA probe and accusing the state police of trying to cover up the probe.

"The chief minister of West Bengal completely trusts the administration of Bengal to crack the Burdwan case and is confident that they will do their job," Trinamool national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien had said Monday.

"Trust is a word not found in the PM's dictionary. The PM does not trust his own party colleagues - L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj. Nor does he trust key members of his own administration. He thinks the CMs of all states also operate like him...," he said.

Three people, including two women, have been arrested in the case which is being probed by the CID as well as a composite task force comprising officers from the state investigating agencies.