Patna/Gaya: The hand grenade recovered from the public toilet near the Mahabodhi Mahavihara in Bodhgaya was meant to be lobbed at Buddhist devotees at a congregation where the Dalai Lama was to be present, sources close to the investigation said on Sunday.

A Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) squad defused the bomb in the presence of National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials on Sunday.

"A locally made grenade was hidden in the toilet cistern by the terrorists for use on January 19 this year. Their plan went awry and they did not get a chance to use it," said a highly placed source.

NIA sleuths recovered the bomb acting on the information provided by an alleged terror suspect, Dilawar Hussain alias Qamar, who was arrested recently. He is a resident of Kaliachak village of Malda district in Bengal and was brought to Bodhgaya to locate the bomb.

The recovery has left the police brass red-faced.

There are few takers for the Gaya cops' claim that the grenade was recovered from the non-core area outside the security zone and hence was a minor lapse.

"It was a major security lapse. Hair-splitting distinction between core and non-core areas would not do," said retired IPS officer M.A. Kazmi. "By not sanitising the toilet, the personnel deputed for shrine security displayed conspicuous lack of professionalism; more so, on account of the place having been targeted by terrorists twice in recent years," he added.

Soon after the July 2013 terrorist attack on the Buddhist shrine, then Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had accepted separate requests made by chief minister Nitish Kumar and then governor D.Y. Patil to provide CISF cover to the shrine.

Sources said the CISF cover proposal fell through on account of the cost factor - Rs 20 crore annually. Money was also required for the creation and maintenance of infrastructure such as watch towers and barracks.