As the tragedy at the Bodhgaya temple complex entered the second day, the investigating agencies probing the serial blasts remained clueless about the identity of the culprits as neither any concrete leads nor any outfits chose to own up the crime that left many injured. Many clues suggest that the blasts could have been yet another job of Indian Mujahideen, but they have no evidence which may conclusively back up the assumption, even as they picked one suspect following leads from the CCTV footages. "It is too early to say anything. There is no clear cut evidence of involvement of any particular group. We don't have a clear lead yet," a senior National Investigation Authority officer who is part of the probe team camping in Bodh Gaya, was quoted as saying in national media. Hope that the interrogation of Vinod Mistry, whose voter ID card was found at the blast site, would turn up clues dried up. He told a team of officials drawn from the Intelligence Bureau and NIA that he had lost his ID card days before the blast, and there was no evidence yet to suggest that he was not being truthful.
Interestingly, Mistry hails from a Naxal-dominated area in Gaya and his father, Bhajju, is suspected to have Maoist links. NIA officials, however, said there is nothing concrete yet to link Mistry to the blasts. There is also nothing to prove as yet that he is linked to Maoists. "However, we will continue to examine him," said an NIA officer. The ID was found in an abandoned bag along with a piece of paper with three numbers scribbled on it. While two of the phone numbers were not in operation, investigation revealed that the third one was very active in the hours before the blast and was used for sending a flurry of text messages to numbers in Delhi and Mumbai between 1 am and 5 am on Sunday morning. The phone was switched off at 5 am; that is, 30 minutes before the bombs went off. Investigators have taken out call details records and were trying to ascertain the identity of those who used the numbers from which messages were exchanged, and have already approached telephone companies. Identity of the message receivers is being ascertained.
Investigations have also cleared the air on the papers found at the blast site with 'Bada But' and 'Iraq war' written on them. Both these papers were found wrapped around two bombs that did not explode. Preliminary investigations suggest that while the first label could have been a direction for the planters about the spots where the explosive devices were to be kept, the paper which had a reference to "Iraq war" was a half-torn pamphlet which was wrapped around one of the bombs with instruction about the spot scribbled on its flip side. The bomb with 'Bada But' scribbled on it was actually placed on the platform of the Great Buddha statue, the paper with references to 'Iraq war' printed on it was wrapped around another bomb placed at Terger monastery. The development also indicates that it was not a large group that carried out the blasts, said sources. "There may not be more than three to four people as large groups arouse suspicion. Also, you don't need to give written directions if one man is carrying not more than two bombs," said an officer from the security establishment.
Agencies are also scanning CCTV footages from the temple complex, although nothing useful has been found yet, sources said, expressing disappointment with the way Bihar government chose to deal with the alerts from the Centre about the terrorists' designs on the Buddhist shrine which is also a World Heritage Site. In what was perhaps the most vivid illustration of the cavalier approach, the terrorists used a ladder to plant two bombs on the 16-feet high platform of the Great Buddha statue. The statue, revered by Buddhists across the world, would have suffered serious damage if the terrorists had chosen high-intensity explosives. The impact of the two low-intensity devices was further muted as the timer in one of them was incapacitated by the impact of the explosion of another. Bihar home secretary Amir Subhani sent a letter to the home ministry Monday requesting it to direct NIA to handle the blast case.
Home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the cops identified two foreigners who sustained injuries during the blasts as Vila Sagga of Myanmar and Tenzing Dorji of Tibet. Sources said the clock used as a timer device in the cylinder bombs carried the mark of 'Lotus'. NIA and IB were not sure whether the use of a device with a Hindu motif which also happens to be BJP's poll symbol was deliberate and meant to be a taunt.
