Suspects evade intel

The involvement of an acquitted suspect in a terror case in the Miryalaguda honour killing shows that intelligence agencies have failed to keep track of terror suspects.

A source told this newspaper, “Keeping track of terror suspects after acquittal is the collective responsibility of the Intelligence Bureau and Counter-Intelligence at the Central level. At the state level, it is the state Counter-Intelligence and the Special Branch in every district.” The source said the arrest of ISI suspect Asghar Ali for the honour killing was an example of how the suspect slipped from the surveillance of agencies. Besides, if the suspects stop using electronic gadgets and facilities, the agencies will have to shadow the person.

The government has taken various measures to deal with such incidents, which include training of security personnel on counter-measures, standardisation of counter IED training and material, induction of sniffer dogs, back tracking of explosives and adoption of tactical measures by troops, said the source.

According to the data collected by the National Security Guard’s National Bomb Data Centre (NBDC), a total of 406 blasts (337 IED and 69 explosives) took place during 2016.

A total of 112 persons were killed and 479 injured in IED blasts incidents and six persons were killed and 26 persons were injured in explosive ordnance blasts during 2016.

Some of the major bombing incidents include, an explosion on January 19, 2018, in south Bihar’s Bodhgaya, blast on the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train on March 7, 2017, near Jabdi in northwestern Madhya Pradesh.