Shinde pushes for setting up NCTC to strengthen intelligence gathering

New Delhi, April 22 (ANI): Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Monday pushed for the setting up of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) to strengthen intelligence gathering.

Making a statement in the Lok Sabha on the blast outside BJP office in Bangalore, Shinde said the Home Ministry was also working towards putting an explosive tracking system in place.

"We also need to strengthen the intelligence set up of the states. We have been advising the states on this, but we have not seen much progress," Shinde told Members of Parliament.

Shinde said the government was also trying to strengthen the human intelligence component of intelligence agencies, which is expected to start yielding results.

"We also need to quickly put the NCTC in place. We have now a revised formulation of NCTC which takes care of the objections of the states," he said.

The setting up of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) has been a bone of contention with several states contending that it affected the federal structure of the Constitution.

Underscoring the need for tighter checks on explosives, Shinde said the Home Ministry was working with the Department of Industrial Policy and Planning, and the National Institute of Smart Government to put an explosives tracking system in place.

"But the problems will remain till the district magistrates and superintendents of police have the stocks and consumption of the licensed explosive users checked more often and more stringently," he said.

On the Bangalore blasts, Shinde said preliminary investigations revealed that an IED on a parked motor cycle caused the explosion near BJP office at 10:15 a.m. on April 17.

"No casualty was reported in the blast. However, 16 persons were injured including 11 police personnel," he said.

He said forensic experts opined that explosive materials used in the blast could be nitrate compounds.

"Around 50 eye-witnesses' statements have been recorded and nearly 80 material objects processed from the crime scene to gather evidence," Shinde said. (ANI with inputs)