A visiting team of an Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) from Bihar — acting in collaboration with its counterparts from Maharashtra — on Thursday arrested a terror suspect wanted in connection with the Pulwama terror attack, in Pune.
Identifying the terror suspect Shariya Anwar-ul-Haq Mandal (19), said to be a resident of Gajna, Bajipur in Nadiya district of West Bengal, the Bihar ATS raided a hideout at Khalumbre village Chakan located on the vicinity of Pune and arrested Mandal. Mandal was “masquerading” as a labourer at Khalumbre village.
The visiting Bihar ATS team produced Mandal before a local court and obtained his transit custody. Mandal was taken to Bihar. Preliminary investigations have revealed that Mandal has links with two Bangladeshi nationals, Khairul Mandal and Abu Sultan, both of whom the Bihar ATS had arrested earlier.
Khairul and Sultan are allegedly the members of the banned Bangladesh groups – Jamat-ul-Mujaheddin and Islamic State of Bangladesh. The name of Mandal, holed up in Pune, cropped up during the interrogation of the arrested duo by the Bihar ATS personnel.
As many 44 CRPF personnel were killed in the Pulwama attack. The incident, which was one of the deadliest terror attacks witnessed in J&K, saw a Jaish suicide bomber ram into a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district. Many people were critically injured in the attack.
