The two suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives, arrested in connection with the Patna serial blasts, were on Sunday produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Ranchi and taken on three-day remand by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Two suspects -- Iftekhar Ansari and Firoz Aslam were arrested by the NIA on Saturday from Sithio village and Karbala Chowk respectively.
“Both (the accused persons) have been taken on a remand for three days,” said a senior NIA official while coming out of the residence of CJM Rajendra Bhadur Pal. Both Ansari and Aslam will now be taken to Patna where the case of Patna serial blasts has been lodged, added the official.Earlier, the suspects were taken to Sadar Hospital before being produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate for medical check up.
At least four NIA teams are stationed in Ranchi since Friday after they reached here with Haider Ali alias ‘Black Beauty’ and Muzibullah Ansari, arrested earlier from Khadgarha bus stand in Ranchi. With the arrest of Ansari and Aslam, all the prime suspects in Patna blast case are in the net, while the hunt is still on for the small ones also having some small roles in the blasts.
“Almost all the big fishes having key roles are already in our net but investigation is still on to nab the small ones, who might have provided them logistic support and shelter before and after the blasts,” said an officer in NIA not willing to disclose his name.The official confirmed that several others have also been picked up by the NIA for interrogation, who are being questioned. One Maulana Taufiq, picked up from Sithio on Saturday, was let off by the team on Sunday.
Six IEDs with three live bombs were recovered from a paddy field near Sithio village on Saturday after a tip off given by Ansari, an auto driver by profession and a neighbour of Tariq Ansari who died during the blasts in Patna.Aslam on the other hand, led the NIA team to recovery of timers, detonators and explosives which was concealed by him on the behest of Mujibullah after the Patna blasts. According to the NIA officials, Aslam had a major role in facilitating the accused persons before and after the Patna blasts.
Aslam is also said to be close to a SIMI cadre in Madhya Pradesh Abu Faisal, arrested recently by the NIA. It is also confirmed during the investigation that Apollo doctor Ejaz Hashmi, interrogated earlier by the NIA in Ranchi, was somehow associated with Haider.
The NIA, on the tip off of the four arrested IM Suspects — Taufique Ansari, Numan Ansari, Haider Ali and Mujbillah during a raid on Idris Medical Hostel, had picked up two doctors — Ejaz Hashmi and Shoaib Akhtar in connection with the Patna Serial blasts. Both of them however, were later released after several hours of interrogation by the NIA sleuths.