Four suspects detained in Bodh Gaya blasts

Four people were detained Tuesday in Patna and interrogated by the NIA in connection with the serial bomb explosions at Bodh Gaya's Mahabodhi temple in Bihar, police officials said.

The investigators narrowed down on the suspects using the CCTV footage of 16 cameras at the temple.

"Four people, suspected to be involved in the serial bomb blasts in Bodh Gaya, were detained in Patna," said a Bihar Police official, who did not wish to be named.

According to police officials, the suspects were taken to an undisclosed place for interrogation by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team.

They were among the six people spotted in the footage and suspected to be involved in the Sunday bombings in which two people were injured, he said.

A police official involved in scanning the footage said they had detected six suspects, including a woman, since their movement close to the temple gate and wall, hours before the blasts, were captured on the CCTV.

The CCTV footage showed that three people entered the temple premises through unspecified entry points and two others stood near the gate close to the car they came in. One of them, who is the tallest, carried a bag on his shoulder.

But the poor quality of the footage of 16 functional CCTV cameras was posing a problem for investigators, said an official.

Police have issued a look-out notice for six people who had been working with the Bodh Gaya's Mahabodhi Temple Management Committee for the last six months and were suspected to be absconding since the explosions, a police official said.

"The look-out notice was issued on the information from the committee," a police official said.

The investigators said some of the "missing" former employees were the suspects spotted in the CCTV footage. The NIA had questioned Vinod Mishtri, a suspect in the Bodh Gaya temple serial blasts.

Mishtri was detained late Sunday evening from a village under Barachatti police station in Gaya district, over 100 km from Patna.

"We interrogated him as his identity card was found in the temple, but noting much could be known from his questioning," said a police official.

The Bodh Gaya temple is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is where the Buddha, who was born in neighbouring Nepal, attained enlightenment around 2,500 years ago.