In a major breakthrough ahead of Narendra Modi taking over as the next Prime Minister on May 26, four more suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives, accused in the Patna serial blasts, were arrested from Ranchi and Daltonganj by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) teams on Wednesday. All the four suspected IM operatives were in the most wanted list of the investigating agencies which had also announced cash reward against any information leading to their arrests.
“Definitely the conspiracy among these people was to harm Modiji. The people whom we have arrested earlier in the Patna blast case had said that they had recced (reconnoitered) Modi's rallies and went there to see how to get near him,” NIA Director General Sharad Kumar told reporters at a hurriedly called Press conference at New Delhi.
Claiming the arrests as a “big success”, the NIA DG said the terror team had carried out dry runs at four places — Akbarpur, Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Delhi and Patna.But finding it very difficult in view of Modi’s security, they planted bombs at the Patna rally one of which was placed barely 100 metres from the dais, NIA officials said, adding the bomb, however, did not explode and was recovered by the Bihar Police only after a day.
The four accused — Taufique, Numan Ansari, Haider and Muzibullah — were arrested on a tip-off given by the Patna blast mastermind Tehseen Akhtar, arrested earlier by the investigating agencies from a village near Indo-Nepal border in Darjeeling in March this year. The NIA teams along with Tehseen are in Jharkhand since yesterday conducting raids at several locations in Jharkhand.
The NIA produced all the four suspects before the court of Judicial Magistrate in Ranchi and Daltonganj and obtained transit remands for them, who will now be taken to New Delhi for further investigation. These four accused persons were living at various places changing locations with fake identities since their names figured in Patna serial blasts ahead of ‘Hunkar Rally’ to be addressed by Modi on October 27 last year, killing five persons and injuring several others.
“Haider and Mujibulla have been arrested from Ranchi while Taufique and Numan were arrested from Shankar lodge located in Baratola in Daltonganj,” said a source in the police department. Haider and Muzibullah, however were arrested while they alighted themselves from a bus at Khadgarha bus stand in Ranchi on Tuesday, added top level source in the police department. According to an official release by the police headquarters, some pen drives, CDs, laptops, datacards,`18,000 cash along with some ‘jehadi’ literature, both in English and Hindi are also said to be recovered from their rooms at Shankar lodge in Daltonganj. The raid which started on Tuesday night continued till late afternoon on Wednesday.
“Policemen in two-three vehicles raided the lodge at about 11:30 pm yesterday, and fortified the lodge closing all the entry gates and took away the students who were sleeping on the roof of the lodge," said a person residing beside the lodge requesting anonymity.Shankar lodge, having some 8-10 rooms, is currently lying almost vacant as most of the students have gone to their homes on vacations, leaving only six persons in it.
Both Numan and Taufique were staying in the lodge since May 2, posing themselves as students. They were staying in the lodge with face identities. According to Palamu SP YS Ramesh, four IM operatives had come to Daltonganj but two of them left for Ranchi. The two were later caught by the investigating agencies in Ranchi in the early morning on Wednesday.
"Numan was staying as Ravindra Rai while Taufique was staying as Chandan Kumar in the lodge," said a source.The team picked up all the six students who were found in the lodge of which, four were released soon after primary interrogation, he added. He said, "They had said that they belonged to a village under Manatu block of Palamu district while taking the room in the lodge."The NIA so far, has succeeded in arresting eight accused in the case. The ninth accused got killed while planting the bomb at Patna railway station. Among them, Haider or 'Black Beauty' is said to be the head of Ranchi module of Indian Mujahideen.
Numan and Taufeeq Ansari are from Sithio village near HEC colony on the outskirts of Ranchi while Haider lived in a rented accommodation in the heart of the city at Doranda. Muzibullah, on the other hand, hails from Ormanjhi block, some 15 km from Ranchi.