Local police had opened the Ramananda Chowk for vehicular movement within two hours of the blast by cleaning the area and completing scene-of-incident report. [break]The Central Investigation Bureau had sent a team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Bhupendra Khatri immediately after the blast but the local police had cleared the spot before the team reached Janakpur.
There were roads on either side of the blast site and vehicular movement would not have been affected even if the area was sealed but police cleaned the area in haste, the police officer said. The middle road, which passes through the blast site, was also blocked for a week to paint the huge gate at the place recently without much hiccup in traffic. “The haste in cleaning the area has created suspicion about the intention of local police to affect the investigations,” the officer opined.
The officer claimed that police did not even cordon off the area and city after the explosion which is a basic reaction to any criminal activity. “The main basis for investigations was wiped out by cleaning the area well before the type of explosives used in the blast could be identified,” the officer contended.
Chief of Dhanusha Police SP Purushottam Kandel, however, claimed that cleaning the area would not affect investigation in any way. “Police had completed requisite investigation within two hours,” Kandel said.
SP Kandel had told the media the next day that gelignite was used in the explosion. But an officer involved in investigations of explosives for a long time argued that TNT (trinitrotoluene), a powerful explosive, could have been used. “Eyewitnesses claimed that milky white plume of smoke was seen at the site immediately after the explosion which indicates use of TNT and white powder. Explosion of gelignite is not accompanied by white smoke,” the officer stated.
The officer claimed that manufacturing this type of bomb requires a specialist and cost well over Rs 200,000. “The underground outfits which scare locals with pressure cooker bombs and other home-made bombs cannot make such sophisticated bombs,” he contended.
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