KOLKATA, Jan 24: Police said on Thursday they had arrested a dozen Indian Muslims on charges connected to the bloody attack outside the American Center.
Inspector D. Chatterjee said the suspects were arrested on Wednesday at a train station outside Kolkata as they returned from a pilgrimage in Bangladesh.
The arrests were made on information provided by other suspects interrogated after a police sweep that followed the attack, Mr Chatterjee said.
Unidentified gunmen had ridden up to the Center on motorbikes and opened fire with AK-47s at several dozen policemen changing duty. Five policemen were killed and around 20 people injured.
Mr Chatterjee said a motorcycle that might have been used in the shooting had been seized allegedly from a Muslim religious figure.
Police on Wednesday said that at least two Bangladeshi nationals had also been picked up and the government in Dhaka summoned the Indian envoy to express its concern.
“Unfounded allegations will only detract from efforts aimed at successfully nabbing the perpetrators of the Kolkata incident,” Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Shamser Mobin Chowdhury said.
Initially, four gunmen on two motorcycles were reported to have carried out the attack, although detectives said examination of video recorded by the American Center’s external security cameras showed only two men on one motorbike.
“The camera tapes have produced vital clues and now we are zeroing in our investigations,” chief police detective Saumen Mitra said.
“This attack was clearly against the American Center and not the policemen guarding the building,” said the detective, without elaborating.
US officials have questioned whether the Center was indeed the prime target, pointing out that no attempt was made to enter or damage the building.
“We are heading in a positive direction and in a few days the picture will be clear,” said Kolkata police deputy commissioner Banibroto Basu, a member of the investigating team.
More than 50 people have been picked up for questioning in the wake of the attack and a team of federal investigators flew in from New Delhi on Wednesday to assist with the investigation.
An unidentified official from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation also flew in, although his precise role has yet to be clarified.
FBI director Robert Mueller was in New Delhi at the time of the attack.
“The FBI is working with the state government and the central government authorities in this case,” said Indian foreign ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao.
Officials said raids were still being mounted on homes and Islamic schools on the city’s outskirts in one of the biggest police crackdowns seen in Kolkata.
Anonymous callers had police rushing to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building, the Calcutta Tram Co. office and the showroom of a shoe company located close to the state government’s offices. All three bomb scares turned out to be hoaxes.
Republic Day: Security in New Delhi was at an all-time high in the runup to India’s 53rd Republic Day celebrations on Saturday with nearly 50,000 police and paramilitary personnel on duty, police said.
Mukesh Kumar Meena, Deputy Commissioner of the Delhi Police, said on Thursday that India’s National Security Guards and police personnel had fanned out across the Indian capital to prevent militants from targeting key government buildings as well as federal ministers.
“The Delhi Police, elite Black Cat commandos, intelligence and crime branch officials have their eyes open,” said Meena.
“Close monitoring has been mounted on the city’s nine entry and exit points. Surprise checks are being carried out at hotels and guest houses in areas where militants could possibly take shelter,” he added.
“The airport and railway stations are also marked.”
Police warned the public on loud-hailers at railways stations and bus terminals to report any suspicious or unattended baggage and constantly spoke of the threat of bombs concealed in luggage or vehicles.—AFP
