In a follow up to a blast and discovery of two additional low intensity explosives in the Buddhist holy place of Bodhgaya during the spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s discourse there, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) said in their chargesheet that the terrorists actually targeted the spiritual leader’s teachings at the beginning of this year.
“In a massive development to the Bodh Gaya explosive case, Republic TV has accessed the NIA chargesheet that reveals the terror plot by suspected terrorists to target spiritual leader Dalai Lama. Recently, the Police had recovered traces of explosives from Zahidhul Islam alias Muneer’s house at Ramanagara district in Karnataka in connection to the case. As many as seven have been arrested so far.” said the report in the website of Republic TV on Monday.
Three low-intensity bombs have been planted amid heavy security shield of the spiritual leader and one of the bombs had exploded in the late evening of January 19 this year, following which the two others were discovered before explosion. The first blast was initially mistaken for a fire cracker, police launched combing search of the entire campus in precaution. The two bombs planted were immediately taken to a remote place and diffused later.
The NIA according to two people arrested in connection with the bomb blast in Bodhgaya in January allegedly planned to set off the explosives to express solidarity with Rohingya Muslims fighting the Myanmar government and wage war against the government of India. The explosion was supposed to be carried out when the Dalai Lama and the governor of Bihar were at the Bodhgaya Buddhist temple premises according to the report in The Week.
In addition to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, other high profile people like Governor of Bihar, CM of Bihar, Hollywood actor Richard Gere have also been visiting the place. Thousands of devotees from around the world were present in Bodh Gaya to seek His Holiness’s teachings and officials also informed that the bombs were intended to create panic among public.