 |
| A security guard checks bags on the CJM court campus in Guwahati on Friday. Picture by Eastern Projections |
Guwahati, Dec 20 : Assam police today handed over all the cases of the October 30 serial blasts to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A two-member CBI team, comprising joint director (east) O.P. Galhotra and DIG (special task force), P. Kamraj, arrived here this morning after the Centre directed the agency to probe the cases.
Dispur had approached Delhi seeking a CBI probe into the blasts following a decision to this effect at an all-party meeting earlier.
G.M. Srivastava, the director-general of police, said henceforth the state police would only be assisting the CBI team if required. “We have handed over all details pertaining to the blasts and informed them of the present status,” he said.
The special investigation team (SIT) of the state police that was constituted in the aftermath of the blasts could not arrive at a conclusion with several key accused in the incident still absconding.
Sources in the team said the next phase of the investigations could proceed only after the arrests of the key accused as they could throw light on the identity of those that had planned and directed the blasts.
Till date, the team has arrested 11 persons in connection with the blasts. Most of these arrested persons are either National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) cadres or persons having links with the outfit.
CBI sources said more personnel from the agency would arrive tomorrow.
The team will include forensic scientists, ballistic exerts and photographers. The sources said two senior officials of the CBI today held an interaction with the Assam police personnel involved with the investigations.
The serial blasts, the worst ever in the history of militancy-ravaged Assam, had left 89 persons dead and over 500 injured, prompting security agencies to believe that external forces were involved.
The sources said the Assam police has handed over cases of the nine blasts (three in Guwahati, three in Kokrajhar, two in Barpeta and one in Bongaigaon) to the central agency.
A CBI official said the cases would now be re-registered at the respective police stations before the central agency can start its investigation.
“Initially, we will take the help of the officials who have been investigating the cases so far and after we get a grasp of the situation, our probe will begin,” a CBI source said.
Social Plugin