Two women arrested in Burdwan explosion case

Two women were arrested and remanded to police custody for two weeks on Sunday in connection with the explosion at Khagragarh in Burdwan that left two suspected militants dead.  The two women — Rajira Bibi alias Rumi from Karimpur in Nadia and Amina Bibi hailing from Lalbagh in Murshidabad — were arrested from Khagragarh on Sunday morning.

Rajira Bibi is the widow of suspected militant Shakil Ahmed, who was killed in the explosion in a house at Khagragarh on 2 October, while Amina Bibi is the wife of Hasan Saheb, who was critically injured in the blast and is under treatment at Burdwan Medical College. They had been detained on the day of the blast and were arrested on Sunday morning. They were later produced before a local court which sent them to police custody, police sources said.

The CID of West Bengal police is looking into the possible involvement of terror outfits such as LeT and HuJI in the blast which left two suspected militants dead. Rajira Bibi had said she and her husband were staying in the house for about three months, while Amina Bibi had said she was there for about one and a half months.

It is suspected that the victims of the explosion were associated with a militant outfit as a large number of watch dials, SIM cards, and other tools required to make improvised explosive devices were found in the house, police sources said.

Besides the two suspected militants who were killed another was injured in the explosion which took place in a house at a locality of Burdwan town. Cops investigating the blast have said that video 

clips of Islamic fundamentalist activities were found in the cellphones seized from the spot.

The officials have also started looking for the sixth suspect involved in the case and have released his sketch based on the description given by the landlord. The landlord told the police that the man often visited the five people who took the house on rent.

On Thursday, an explosion in a house led to the discovery of a cache of arms and ammunition. The 

landlord alleged that they had taken the house on rent and told him they were setting up a workshop for making burkhas.

The police have not ruled out terror links to the incident, but have sad it’s too early to say much. ‘Unless our probe is over, we are not in a position to comment anything as we are not sure whether they are telling the truth,’ said an officer.

The NIA, CID and the police are all probing the incident. A forensic team visited the spot on Sunday and collected samples. They also visited the banks of the Damodar river where the ammunition from the house were disposed.