PATNA: A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) headed by a SP rank officer reached Darbhanga from Delhi on Friday to take over the railway station blast case which is being suspected to be a terror plot.
The case was being investigated by government rail police (GRP) after an FIR was registered soon after the blast with Darbhanga GRP on June 17.
Suspicion is high that some complex inflammable liquid chemical was used for causing the explosion after keeping it inside a 100ml glass bottle, wrapping it with adhesive tapes and then placing it in between several layers of clothes.
The parcel of clothes was booked at Secunderabad railway junction in Telangana on June 15.
It was booked in the name of one Mohammad Sufiyan in Secunderabad by two suspects.
The parcel recipient’s name in Darbhanga was also mentioned as Mohammad Sufiyan.
The parcel exploded with a loud bang soon after it was dumped on the ground at platform number one of Darbhanga railway station on June 17.
It was unloaded from a train coming from Secunderabad.
State police headquarters sources said that experts at the forensic laboratory in Muzaffarpur expressed their inability to ascertain what chemical was used in the explosion after which the bottle was deposited at Central forensic science laboratory (CFSL) in Kolkata on Wednesday.
“They will analyse the molecular composition and ascertain the type of component kept in it.
It can’t be said yet if temperature, pressure or shock acted as a trigger for the blast,” a senior IPS officer said.
When contacted, ADG (railway) Nirmal Kumar Azad on Wednesday said that the NIA would be taking over the case by evening.
“No arrests have taken place in Bihar yet.
One team had gone to Hyderabad and another team to Uttar Pradesh for investigation,” he said.
ADG Azad said they were working with different agencies of the central government as well as UP and Telangana police in the case.
“The blast inside the parcel took place soon after it was kept on the ground.
The bottle inside which chemical was kept has been deposited at CFSL Kolkata for forensic analysis.
Our team from Secunderabad is expected to return by night,” he added.
State police headquarters sources said that the GRP in coordination with anti-terrorism squad (ATS) of Bihar, UP and Telangana police were working together in the case and were in constant touch with NIA and Intelligence bureau too at higher level.
Another senior IPS officer of Bihar police said the GRP in Telangana traced and quizzed the taxi driver who had driven the two suspects to Secunderabad railway junction for parcel booking.
“Several CCTV camera footages were scanned to ascertain where both suspects had started.
The taxi was booked using a mobile based application.
We have a few suspicious cellphone numbers,” he said.