Bodh Gaya blasts being probed in detail: Shinde

A "detailed investigation" is being carried out into the string of bombings that rocked Bodh Gaya's Mahabodhi temple in Bihar, said union Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and added that the probe has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

"A detailed investigation into serial bomb explosions at Bodh Gaya is going on," Shinde told media persons here after his visit to the temple complex and other places where 10 bombs exploded early Sunday.

"We will investigate this incident from all angles possible. We don't want to arrest anyone in a hurry and want to go into details and arrest the main people responsible," he said.

Shinde along with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi visited the temple to obtain first-hand information about the terror strike at the 1,500-year-old temple.

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.

"I also condemn the bomb explosions at the holiest shrine of peace. The Bihar government wrote to the central government Tuesday that investigation should be handled by the NIA. We have accepted it and since Tuesday night, NIA has been investigating the case," Shinde said.

"We have put in a big team of NIA and NSG (National Security Guards) which specialises in investigating terrorism incidents," he added.

Shinde said that of the 13 bombs placed at the site Sunday morning, 10 went off between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.

"It seems small gas cylinders weighing two to three kg were used, and they contained nails and ball bearings. Initial investigation shows that the bombs were placed in the night and three or four people could be involved," he said.

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

"Delhi Police had given information in October. Police DIG (deputy inspector general of police) had taken a security review on July 3 and spoken to the local security force here," he said.

On reports of delay in sending NIA team to Bodh Gaya, Shinde said: "We sent the teams by air but due to thunderstorms and bad weather in between, the flight had to turn back and they reached the site at 4 p.m.," he said.

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