Bodh Gaya blasts: Sleuths spot six suspects in CCTV clips

Bodh Gaya  :  Six suspects, including a woman, have been spotted in CCTV footage by investigators probing the 10 bomb explosions at Bodh Gaya’s Mahabodhi temple in Bihar, police officials said Tuesday.

“We have detected six suspects, including a woman, since their movement close to the temple gate and wall, hours before the blasts, were captured in the CCTV footage,” said a police official involved in looking at the footage.

According to police officials, the CCTV footage shows three people entered the temple premises through unspecified entry points and two others stood near the gate close to the car they came in. One of them, who is the tallest, carried a bag on his shoulder.

But officials are facing a problem since the footage from the 16 functional CCTV cameras installed in the temple is of poor quality.

“The poor footage has complicated the matter as despite identifying some clear movement at around 4.10 a.m. close to the Bodhi tree, we are unable to see the face,” an official said.

The officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Intelligence Bureau as well Bihar Police are busy analyzing the CCTV footage in slow motion at the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee office here.

Police have issued a look-out notice for six people who had been working with the Bodh Gaya’s Mahabodhi Temple Management Committee for the last six months and are absconding after the serial bomb blasts, a police official said.

“The look-out notice was issued on the information from the committee,” a police official said.

The investigating agencies officials strongly feel that some of them are the suspects spotted in the CCTV footage.

“Three suspects arrived near the temple in a tempo (auto-ricksaw) Sunday early hours followed by three more suspects (who) arrived at the same place in an Indica (car). Among them is a woman, who is also spotted in the CCTV footage,” a police official said.

Magadh range Deputy Inspector Generel N.H. Khan said the police had got some clues, but would not disclose these till the NIA completes its probe.

The NIA has questioned Vinod Mishtri, a suspect in the Bodh Gaya temple serial blasts.

Mishtri was taken into custody late Sunday evening from a village under Barachatti police station in Gaya district.

“Police took him into custody and interrogated him as his identity card was found in the temple, but nothing came out of him,” said a police official.