GUWAHATI: There has been no progress in the police investigation into Sunday’s blast at a hotel located located on the city’s outskirts even as the pro-Congress National Students Union of India (NSUI) expelled its leader Manabjyoti Bora, who had allegedly demanded money from the hotel owner.
Guwahati Police Commissioner Jyotirmoy Chakraborty, who visited Hotel Nezone on Monday, ruled out the use of explosives. “Explosives were not used. Had explosives been used, there would have been a crater. There are electrical fittings, ACs and gas cylinders. So, we don’t know what caused the explosion. The FSL (forensic science laboratory) is conducting a probe. So, let them come out with their report,” he said.
Bora is said to have demanded money to get Hotel Nezone reopened after the Guwahati Municipal Corporation had closed it down last month. CCTV footage, accessed by a local news channel, showed three youth, including Bora, engaged in a conversation with hotel owner Dilip Prasad, telling him about their contacts with high-ranking government officials.
Bora later told reporters that he had only offered to help Prasad get the hotel opened and denied demanding money.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has taken strong exception to the incident.
“Action will be taken against anyone found guilty. It doesn’t matter whether he is from the Congress, the NSUI or the BJP,” Gogoi told reporters. The NSUI also urged the police to examine the Call Data Records (CDR) of Bora and Prasad.
The explosion, which caused an inferno, substantially damaged three floors of the hotel, besides causing grievous injuries to a motorcyclist passing by.