KOLKATA : The National Security Guard (NSG) had wanted to visit the blast site at Khagragarh in Burdwan on October 2 itself but this request was turned down by the state government, sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) have confirmed. In the last few years, after any blast — whether outside the Delhi high court in 2011 or at San Jose de Areal in Goa in 2014 — NSG technical teams were rushed in to collect samples from the site.

On many occasions, NSG teams had to be flown in to the state where the blast occurred. In the case of Burdwan, the NSG’s regional hub is located barely 100 km away at Badu in North 24-Parganas. It would have taken less than a couple of hours for a technical team from Badu to reach Khargragarh.

“The NSG can’t get involved unless asked to do us. In this case, an attempt was first made to pass off the blast as a cylinder blast. Later, when facts became clearer, the state government was approached to permit a NSG technical team to visit the site. The state government clearly said that there is no need for such a visit. Collection of samples is crucial as the NSG has chemical analysis reports of chemicals used in blasts across the country and can search for links,” a source in the MHA said.

The state government may have its own reasons for denying access to the National Investigating Agency but it isn’t clear why permission to collect samples was denied to the NSG which isn’t an investigating agency. Its role is limited to collection of samples, carrying out tests and attempting to establish a link between incidents.

After the blasts at Hyderabad in February, 2013, an NSG team was rushed there in an aircraft provided by the Border Security Force (BSF). A team of the elite commandos also visited the Bangalore blast site later that year. In July, 2013, after low-intensity blasts rocked Bodh Gaya in Bihar, an NSG team was rushed there but the MHA was criticized as it took the NSG nearly 12 hours to reach the spot. The black cats also rushed to Patna after the blasts at Gandhi Maidan in October, 2013. In May, 2014, the NSG reached Goa after a crude bomb blast that left one person dead and a few others injured.

“Such analysis is important for the sake of the state where the blast has taken place. We can’t understand why the NSG was not called in,” the MHA official added.

