Sylhet, August 15 :The investigations of the three blasts that rocked the north-eastern city of Sylhet on August 5 and 7 are yet to begin in any effective manner as two departments of the police continue to shirk responsibility, pointing fingers at each other instead.

Other than conducting regular raids in the city’s residential hotels and arresting “random” suspects, the Sylhet police have been virtually inactive as regards the probe of the twin cinema blasts of August 5 and the blast at the Gulshan Hotel of August 7 that together left two people dead, including a city Awami League leader, and dozens injured.

The Sylhet police claim that since the cases were handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department of police, they were no more the responsibility of the Sylhet polce, and hence the inactivity.

The CID, on its part, has admitted that its investigation of the blasts is yet to begin.

The investigation officer of the case, assistant superintendent of CID police Munshi Atiqur Rahman, said he has not been able to begin the probe as the case dockets are yet to reach him.

The only contribution made by an otherwise relaxed Sylhet police was to arrest the lone suspect so far, SM Nunu Mia. Nunu has been taken to Dhaka for questioning by the Joint Interrogation Cell.

The superintendent of police, Sylhet, Mostafa Kamal, defended the role of the Sylhet police so far saying that they have nothing to do with the case as it is now in the hands of the CID.

He however said he was ready to provide all kinds of cooperation to the CID if requested.

Even with probes in a limbo, the SP said he was very hopeful about the result of the investigation. “I am hopeful about the results of the investigations into the cases. Soon, you will know the outcome,” he told New Age.

Munshi, who is now in Dhaka waiting for the case dockets, was also hopeful of the outcome. “Hopefyully, I will get the dockets on Monday to start my investigation,” he told New Age.

But a cross-section of people in Sylhet has expressed their doubt about Munshi’s investigation capabilities as he has “utterly failed” to make any headway into the shrine blast case of recent times.

Munshi is also the IO of the May 21 blast at the shrine of Shahjalal the left the British high commissioner to Bangladesh injured and three dead. Till date, no significant result has come of that investigation.

There was surprise all around in Sylhet when Munshi was again made the IO of the latest three bomb-related cases.

Munshi had gone on leave preparatory to retirement in the middle of the May 21 blast case investigation but was given a year’s extension and was reassigned the investigation charge.

A high-ranking police officer in Sylhet said of Munshi’s repeated high-profile assignments, “As if there is no other police officer in the country other than Munshi.”

Meanwhile, there was a bomb scare at the Sylhet Railway Station on Sunday when an annonymous caller made a blast claim, but the police searched the premises and declared the call a hoax.

Normalcy is gradually returning to the panic-stricken city as on Sunday more people were seen on the streets, at shopping complexes and at the shrine of Shahjalal than on the days preceding.