Patna: 5:30 pm: UP police directs all district police chiefs to step up security for rallies and public meetings.
5:05 pm: "No specific intelligence input was given to Bihar police. We had only general input, no specific intelligence input had come," says Bihar ADG Ravindra Kumar.
"We strongly refute the reports that Bihar Police has destroyed vital evidence in the blasts case," he added.
3:35 pm: Speaking of security lapses, Jaitley said there was no senior Bihar Police official at Gandhi Maidan to speak to. "There were 1,700 additional security guards deployed by BJP at Gandhi Maidan," Jaitley added.
3:31 pm: Arun Jaitley alleged that people were being allowed to enter Gandhi Maidan on Sunday without any frisking. "The Bihar Police didn't certify Advanced security liasoning for Modi," he added.
3:27 pm: BJP leader Arun Jaitley has said that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar cannot escape responsibility by saying there were no intelligence inputs on Patna blasts. "We are still living in a vulnerable security environment," he added.
2:35 pm: Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has said that he will visit Patna on Tuesday. "Some have been detained, one arrested. I am going to Patna tomorrow. The Government of India has provided full security to Modi.
2:10 pm: Former union home secretary RK Singh on Monday said that the Centre has been having problems with the state of Bihar for some time. He recalled an incident regarding the jihadi terror modules where they had IM sleeper cells in the state. He said that Delhi police went to the cells and arrested many people from there. "It was not just the Delhi police team but police teams from other other states had also arrested people from the spot. But Bihar police had no idea," Singh said. He also alleged that instead of arresting the accused, they objected when other police teams would visit the state and arrest them.
Calling it shameful, he said that Indian Mujahideen operative, Yasin Bhatkal spent 6-7 months in Bihar and the police in the state did not question his contacts. "You would expect any professional police to take him into custody and find out what contacts he built there in 6-7 months, who were his contacts," Singh said.
1:38 pm: Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh has said that if any party was to benefit from the Patna blasts, it was the BJP. Speaking to IBN18 Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, Digvijaya said he does not regret his tweet after the Patna blasts. He added that he sees that blasts as a total failure of that state agencies and that the blasts would not have happened had he been the Chief Minister.
12:00 am: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is holding an emergency meeting in Patna in connection with the serial blasts.
11:52 am: Sources say that the Patna blasts and the Bodh Gaya blasts could be connected. NIA and Bihar Police sources say bombs used in both the places have a similar timer device.
11:42 am: BJP leader Sushil Modi blamed Nitish Kumar for the blasts and accused him of taking the security lightly. He also said that the CM called Rajnath Singh but did not call Narendra Modi. "There was complete non-cooperation on the part of state government," he said.
Terming the incident as criminal negligence on the part of Bihar government, he said that the blasts look deliberate. "Why wasn't bullet proof SUV given to Narendra Modi. CM wanted to ignore Modi so had a callous attitude towards the rally," he said.
11:23 am: The NIA has sought IM founder Yasin Bhatkal's custody after Sunday's Patna serial blasts.
11:10: The NIA has confirmed the involvement of Indian Mujahideen terror group in the serial blasts that rocked Patna on Sunday.
11:05 am: Calling Sunday's serial blasts as unfortunate, BJP President Rajnath Singh said that they look like a terrorist attack. He targeted the Bihar government for security lapses and said that said that he was assued by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that that investigations will be complete soon.
The Bihar Police had earlier in the day confirmed that one suspect had confessed to his involvement in Sunday's Patna serial blasts that left six people dead. The second suspect in the case has succumbed to his injuries.
Four people as of now have been detained by the police. However, Home Ministry sources have told CNN-IBN that there were five bomb planters in total. Sources say that IM operative Tehseen Akhtar was the mastermind and provided the bombs. Sources also say that one of those detained allegedly claimed that the motive of the serial blasts was to avenge the Muzaffarnagar riots.
The attack on Sunday comes only four months after the Bodh Gaya blasts also carried out by the IM. The police are carrying out searches at the Gandhi Maidan as they suspect more live IEDs could be found. Sources tell CNN-IBN that that they have got specific leads on the role of Mohammed Tehseen Akhtar, who is a key aide on Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal.
The first blast ripped through a toilet at around 9:15 am at the newly built platform 10 of Patna railway station, killing one person and wounding another. After an hour, by which time Modi had reached Patna, four explosions took place in quick successions near the Hunkar rally venue Gandhi Maidan, killing four others and causing a lot of panic. The second blast took place at Eliphiston cinema hall followed by the other explosions near the rally venue.
Bihar Chief Minister Kumar, on Sunday, ruled out any security lapses in the arrangements for the BJP much talked about Hunkar rally saying that the state government had left no stone unturned to ensure safety of all those attending the rally in Patna.
Nitish claimed that there were no intelligence inputs provided to the government. "There were no intelligence inputs either from the Centre or from the state. Whatever was possible to do for this kind of a programme, the administration had done. Security was tightened keeping in mind the BJP rally. Senior police officials had personally monitored the security arrangements at Gandhi Maidan," Nitish said.
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