Bodh Gaya blasts being probed in detail, says Shinde

A "detailed investigation" is being carried out into the serial bomb blasts that rocked Bodh Gaya's Mahabodhi temple in Bihar, said union Minister Sushilkumar Shinde who added intelligence alerts about a terror threat were given.

"A detailed investigation into serial bomb explosions at Bodh Gaya is going on," Shinde told media persons here after he reviewed the ongoing investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) during his visit to the temple complex and other places where 10 bombs exploded early Sunday.

"I also condemn the bomb explosions at the holiest shrine of peace," said Shinde, who along with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi visited the temple to obtain first-hand information about the terror strike at the 1,500 years old temple.

Shinde said that "investigation work is to go in detail".

"We have put in a big team of NIA, which specialises in investigating terrorism incidents," Shinde said.

Shinde admitted that intelligence alerts were given about terror threat to the state government before the Sunday blasts.

Regarding Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's demand to deploy Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the temple, Shinde said that the home ministry will discuss it.

"We will take any decision in this matter after discussion," he said.

Shinde said that till date the CISF have not been deployed at any religious place in the country, and added that a similar demand for CISF deployment was made for Shirdi Sai temple in Maharashtra.

The Bodh Gaya temple is a Unesco World Heritage site. It is where the Buddha, who was born in neighbouring Nepal, attained enlightenment around 2,550 years ago.