Kirnahar, Nov. 12: The father of one of the persons who died in the Burdwan blast today identified him as Abdul Karim, a youth who had told police before dying that he was Subhan Mondal.


 


Although Karim's father Jamshed Sheikh, a vegetable seller at Kaferpur village in Birbhum's Kirnahar, identified the body at the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital morgue today, local residents said they knew all along that the youth who had claimed to be Subhan was Abdul Karim.


 


The claim by the Kaferpur residents has raised questions on the role of the district intelligence branch.


 


Asked if the lack of such knowledge pointed to a failure of the district intelligence, Birbhum police superintendent Alok Rajoria asked what could the cops do if the father did not come to claim the youth's body. Another officer said the family had not filed a missing person's diary.


 


A neighbour of Jamshed who accompanied him to the hospital said on condition of anonymity that the residents knew that Subhan was Karim within 24 hours of the October 2 blast. The neighbour said Jamshed was informed about Karim's death by Amjad Ali, the youth's cousin who used to procure chemicals from a shop in Calcutta's Shakespeare Sarani for the Burdwan terror module believed to be behind the blast.


 


'Some of Jamshed's family members shared the information with neighbours. This is how I came to know about it,' the vegetable seller's neighbour said.


 


Amjad alias Kajol Sheikh was arrested on Monday. On the basis of information provided by Amjad, the investigators had reached a tentative conclusion that Subhan was Karim.


 


Police sources in Burdwan said that after Karim was injured in the Khagragarh explosion, he was alive for nearly four hours.


 


'Karim was in his senses and the investigating officer of Burdwan police station, Akash Munshi, had questioned him,' a source said.


 


Munshi said today: 'When I asked him (Karim) his name, he told us once he was Swapan Mondal, the son of Biplab Mondal. He had given his address as Uttarpara in East Midnapore. When I asked him his name again after some time, he told me his name was Subhan Mondal, son of Dipak Mondal.'


 


National Investigation Agency (NIA) sources said Karim's family members knew about the death as they were informed by Amjad.


 


'But the information was kept under wraps to avoid police harassment. District intelligence officials, who are supposed to have a source network in the villages, did not know about it,' an NIA officer said.


 


The police sources said that initially, they had been searching for 'Subhan Mondal of Uttarpara in East Midnapore'. 'We found that there is no village called Uttarpara in East Midnapore,' a police officer said.


 


Rajoria said: 'I can't call it an intelligence failure in the district. The father of the person who died did not claim his son's body. So how can we know?' Another police officer said Karim's family had not lodged a missing person's diary even though he had not contacted them for two-and-a-half months before his death.


 


A district intelligence branch officer said the force lacked infrastructure and manpower to maintain vigil in all villages.


 


The neighbour accompanying Karim's father Jamshed told The Telegraph: 'When we were coming to the Burdwan hospital in a car, Jamshed regretted not having contacting the police earlier. Jamshed told his nephew and some family members in the Sumo that had they contacted the police earlier, they could have performed the last rites earlier. Karim's father also said during the conversation that Amjad had informed them much earlier about the death.'