Dinajpur police yesterday withdrew the investigating officer (IO) of the Kantaji temple blast case, the second policeman connected to the case to be withdrawn.
Sources in Dinajpur police confirmed that both policemen were on duty at the blast site when three bombs went off around 1:15am on Saturday.
Police said a business rivalry between two members of the ruling Awami League was the likely cause of the bombing.
Sub-Inspector (SI) Ahsan, who was the investigating officer in the case, was withdrawn yesterday. Kaharole police station officer-in-charge (OC) Abdul Mazid was withdrawn 12 hours after the incident, on Saturday.
A high official of Dinajpur district police told the Dhaka Tribune over the phone that police had clear proof that the reason for the bombing was a conflict between rival leasers of the Rash Mela fairground.
The official, who asked not to be named, added that both the present leaser, Harish Ali, and the previous leaser, Latif Islam, belong to the ruling Awami League.
When Harish got the lease this year, the supporters of Latif openly declared that they would foil the festival at any cost, the police official said.
Ever since the explosions in the folk theatre tent of the Rash Mela fair held on the temple premises, Latif and his supporters have kept a very low profile, the official added.
Sujan Sarker, assistant police superintendent of Dinajpur, told the Dhaka Tribune that the two policemen had been withdrawn as part of an administrative change.
Sujan said preliminary investigations suggested that the explosions were part of an effort to disrupt the Rash Mela festivities. “But we are still looking into other issues because there are extremist groups active across the country, and extremists threatened the peace of this district just two weeks ago.”
“We have not yet made any arrests,” he replied, when asked about the status of the probe. “But we are hopeful.”
‘Total stranger’
Sub-Inspector Tazul of Kaharole police station is currently in charge of the bomb blast case. Contacted, Tazul said he was “a total stranger” to the case and had nothing new to share.
Investigators said they were still not sure what kind of device was used in the explosions at the Rash Mela. In preliminary statements, they referred to the explosive devices as “crude bombs.”
Sub-Inspector Manzur Mawla of Dinajpur district Special Branch of police told the Dhaka Tribune that investigators had recovered cell phone and cell phone battery fragments and wire from the blast site but nothing could yet be said about the nature of the bombs. “We cannot say at the moment whether they were improvised explosive devices, time bombs or something else.”
“We will send the evidence to the forensics lab for ballistic testing. We will be able to say more about the evidence after getting the report,” said SI Manzur, who is leading a six-member probe body working in the field to assist the investigation.
“I do not think the attack was done by any militant group,” said Amalendu Bhoumik, chairman of the committee of the Raj Debottor estate which supervises the temple. “A group of people are doing this to foil the image of the Rash Mela.”
Parimal Chakrabarti, secretary of the Dinajpur district Hindu-Bouddho Parishad, blamed the failure of of the law enforcement agencies for the attack. “If the police had arrested previous attackers, this might not have happened.”
