Siliguri, April 4: Residents of the town have been asked to keep tabs on outsiders living in their areas as tenants following yesterday’s twin blasts that occurred when four persons with links to the Bhutan Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) mishandled an improvised explosive device.

Three of them were killed in the blasts, while the fourth one was badly injured.

“Citizens should be alert. They must cross-check identities of tenants and give us the details,” said the inspector-general of police (north Bengal), R.J.S. Nalwa. “It is difficult for police alone to track down militants.”

Nalwa added that house-owners should be wary of people offering high rents, leading an unusual lifestyle or staying in groups.

CID officers, too, reiterated that the multicultural character of Siliguri has added to its vulnerability. “The Bhutan Communist Party cadres would have found the town a safe place to stay and make explosive devices,” an official said.

His words are backed by the fact that ISI spy Mohammed Dilshad and Mohan Baidya, a top-rung leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists), were arrested from Siliguri in 2002 and 2004, respectively.

The Siliguri Municipal Corporation, on its part, has alerted the councillors in all the 47 wards of the town. “They should have a database of people residing in their wards and check new tenants as well as outsiders building houses or buying flats,” said mayor Bikash Ghosh.

The Darjeeling district CPM said it would mobilise its grassroots workers to keep a vigil in various parts of the town. “They have been instructed to keep tabs on new faces and inform senior leaders, ward councillors and even police in case they find anyone suspicious,” said Jibitesh Sarkar, a state committee member of the party.