Indore: The residents of Moorkheda village, around 40 km from here, were tense on Tuesday. A car and an anti-riot vehicle screeched to a halt on the dusty roads in the afternoon and National Investigating Agency (NIA) officers alighted to conduct a search at the house of Kamal Chouhan who has been accused of planting a bomb in Samjhauta Express.

The team, led by deputy superintendent of police (NIA) Devendra Singh, went straight to Kamal’s house and met his father Radheshyam, explaining their motive. Radheshyam was allowed to speak to Kamal over phone, following which the team started search operation.

Every nook and corner of the house was searched, almirahs opened and contents studied in detail. “We were trying to gather clues that would support our case,” NIA team members told DNA, while recording the details of objects seized. The team collected large number of documents, some of which told the story of Kamal’s educational and personal life.

Kamal was arrested by NIA on suspicion of planting explosives in the train that connected India and Pakistan in 2007. Sixty-eight persons were killed in the blast. He was later sent on police remand by a Greater Noida court, following which he was being interrogated by the NIA in Delhi.

The NIA team members later told DNA that they had found some valuable inputs that would help in the investigation. “More people are expected to fall into the NIA net after this search,” a senior officer said.

Highly-placed sources claimed that NIA was keeping a track of Kamal’s activities since April 2010. He had gone missing when another blasts suspect Lokesh Sharma was arrested from Mhow. Kamal was among the four persons NIA was trying to arrest in the case.

Radheshyam told DNA that Kamal had told him over phone to cooperate with the NIA team, following which every door was opened for the investigators. Two of Radheshyam’s lawyers also confirmed the letters of authority NIA was carrying to conduct the raid.