GAYA, July 16, 2013: The mystery behind a parked ambulance on the Mahabodhi temple premises on the day of the serial blasts has given a new twist to the ongoing investigation.

The ambulance belongs to the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC) and its slotted parking area is said to be on the BTMC premises and not elsewhere. No convincing explanation has been given by the BTMC for parking the vehicle inside the shrine near the point earmarked for oil lamp burning.

Otherwise too, the parking of a motorized vehicle in close proximity to the place where a large number of lamps are lighted by the Buddha devotees violates standard security norms. Attempts to contact the BTMC secretary to ascertain the reason why the ambulance was parked in close proximity to the point having fire catching potential proved futile as N Dorje, the BTMC secretary, did not pick up the phone.

Agreeing that the parking of the ambulance on the shrine premises was unusual, Gaya SSP Ganesh Kumar said it required deeper probe as to who facilitated and permitted the entry of the ambulance into the shrine. The investigating agency must have taken note of it (ambulance parking), said the SSP.

According to sources in the police department, misuse of ambulances was not limited to 'masala' films only. In real life, too, instances of ambulances being misused for clandestine purposes are far too many. Only a few days before the blasts, an ambulance of the Belaganj primary health centre (PHC) was caught smuggling liquor while blaring the wailing siren to hoodwink the police. The liquor bottles were spotted by a group of ABVP activists engaged in road blockade.

The somewhat smooth and unnoticed entry of no less than four gas cylinders and other blast material has remained a puzzle all these days. Maybe the parked ambulance movement records throw some light to solve the puzzle. Several BTMC employees, in any case, remain under cloud and have been subjected to grilling by the NIA team.

Even if the ambulance had nothing to do with the blasts, its presence inside the threatened shrine with gallons of inflammable material inside its oil tank has to be regarded as a major security lapse, admit officials preferring anonymity.

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 16, 2013.