The National Investigation Agency, or NIA, will now investigate the petrol bomb attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS, office in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand. The Union Home Ministry, treating the case as serious, has ordered that the investigation be transferred from the Jharkhand Anti Terrorist Squad, or ATS, to the NIA. According to sources, an NIA team will reach Ranchi on Friday to take charge of the case.
The attack took place at the RSS office located in the Nivaranpur area of Ranchi. In the aftermath, the Jharkhand ATS was initially handling the investigation. However, several significant facts emerged during that inquiry, prompting the Union Home Ministry to decide that the case should be handed over to the central agency.
UAPA and Explosives Act sections added
Investigating agencies say that given the seriousness of the case, sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, or UAPA, along with the Explosives Act, have now been added to it. With these sections in place, the scope of the investigation will widen considerably, allowing the entire network behind the attack to be probed in depth.
Accused have links to four states
The preliminary investigation found that the arrested accused were not connected to Jharkhand alone. Their links have been traced to Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Mumbai as well. This has led investigating agencies to suspect that an organised network could be active behind the attack, which is the reason the case has now been handed to central agencies.
ATS hands over full case diary to NIA
The Jharkhand ATS, which had been investigating the matter so far, has handed over all the evidence, the case diary, documents and other investigation material it had gathered to the NIA. The agency will now take the probe forward on the basis of these documents.
NIA team to reach Ranchi on Friday
According to sources, a special NIA team will reach Ranchi on Friday. The team will inspect the site of the attack, question the arrested accused and begin a fresh investigation into the entire case. The agency will also try to determine at what level the conspiracy behind the attack was hatched and who all were involved in it.
