Patna/Gaya: A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths recovered a bomb from a public toilet barely a few metres northwest of the Unesco World Heritage Mahabodhi Mahavihara in Bodhgaya on Saturday, eight months after the low-intensity blasts and recovery of two powerful bombs.
Confirming the recovery, NIA inspector-general Alok Mittal told The Telegraph: "Yes, we have recovered one locally made hand grenade in the Bodhgaya case."
Another senior officer said the NIA team, which is investigating the blasts case and recovery of the two bombs from the vicinity of the Mahabodhi temple on January 19 this year, recovered the explosive from a men's public toilet. The Dalai Lama had been holding discourses there at that time.
Asked how the explosive went unnoticed despite regular sanitisation of the area during VIP visits and anti-terror drill, Gaya senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rajiv Mishra said: "The place from where the explosive was recovered fell outside the sanitised zone. Though live, it could not have easily exploded."
The recovery of the bomb not only triggered panic among people ahead of the six-month tourist season that begins from October 1, but also raised concerns related to security. Pitripaksh Mela also starts from September 23 in Gaya, which is located just a few kilometres from Bodhgaya.
Sources said the NIA team got leads about one more bomb in Bodhgaya while interrogating an alleged terror suspect, Dilawar Hussain, alias Qamar, who was arrested recently. He is a resident of Kaliachak village of Malda district in Bengal. The NIA brought him to Bodhgaya to locate the bomb.
"The grenade was planted in the toilet around eight months ago and had remained unexploded. Dilawar made the disclosure while being interrogated in connection with the January incident. He was brought to Bodhgaya and he led the team to the bomb, which was planted inside a non-functional cistern connected to the flush in the toilet," a source said.
Meanwhile, the NIA team is trying to defuse the bomb near Niranjana river. It initially sought help from the state police, but later engaged a bomb disposal squad of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
NIA sources said so far, eight people arrested in connection with the Bodhgaya incident are related to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Indian Mujahideen, both of which are terror outfits and are linked.