Labs disagree on Jalpaiguri explosive

Forensic laboratories in Delhi and Kolkata seem to be at loggerheads over the kind of explosives used in the blast which ripped through a compartment of the Haldibari-New Jalpaiguri Passenger near Belakoba in North Bengal.

Forensic laboratories in Delhi and Kolkata seem to be at loggerheads over the kind of explosives used in the blast which ripped through a compartment of the Haldibari-New Jalpaiguri Passenger near Belakoba in North Bengal. The incident, which took place on November 20, killed eight passengers and injured over 50. Meanwhile, the CID, which is looking after the case, is yet to make any arrests regarding the blast, almost a month after the incident.

Though a final report of yet to be placed with the CID, the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory, Kolkata, has adjudged that the explosives used were ammonia-based, while its Delhi counterparts suspect the material used was RDX. 8220;We have not received the final reports from either Delhi or Kolkata laboratories. But initial findings of Kolkata laboratory state that the explosives used in the blast are ammonia-based, whereas its Delhi counterparts are of the opinion that it is RDX,8221; confirmed Rajiv Kumar, DIG CID operations. Experts from both laboratories collected samples from the compartment where the blast took place, a day after the incident.

The investigators of both the labs are, however, unanimous regarding the use of Improvised Explosive Device IED. The Kolkata laboratory clearly states that traces of ammonia as those used in fertilisers was found in the samples with signs of the use of detonator.

Meanwhile, not much headway has been made in the case. According to CID and railway police sources, the needle of suspicion points towards more than one extremist group operating in the region from Bangladesh. The location of the blast points towards both Muslim fundamentalist groups in Bangladesh and the local KLO cadres according to them. The train terminates at Haldibari which is right on the Indo-Bangladesh border and Belakoba where the blast took place is a KLO stronghold. But KOL alone is understood to be incapable of causing such a blast as its rank and file depleted severely in 2003 following an operation by the Royal Bhutanese Army.

8220;Haldibari, the origin of the train is only 2 km from Bangladesh. Another two km away in Bangladesh is Syedpur. Syedpur was one in the list of 174 insurgent camp sites handed by BSF to BDR in August, 2006. According to the BSF report, Syedpur houses a training camp by DGFI 8212; Bangladesh8217;s intelligence agency. KLO probably provided local logistics support,8221; said an investigating officer.

Interestingly, at around 11 am on the day of the blast, a central intelligence agency had warned the district cops of a probable blast in a Jalpaiguri bound train. The alarm failed to reach the RPF officials on time.