The Assam Police has arrested six people for their alleged involvement in the recent bomb blast at Burdwan in West Bengal. They are suspected to have links with the Bangladesh-based Islamic terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen. The Bangladesh Government on Friday extended support to India in investigating possible linkages of terrorism from its soil.
According to a senior official of the Assam Police, the six youth were nabbed from different areas of Barpeta district following Intelligence inputs from the West Bengal Police and National Investigating Agency (NIA).
The NIA on Friday registered a case to probe the blast in which the role of terror groups is suspected. The decision was taken after the Centre decided to entrust the investigation to the agency without taking consent of the West Bengal Government by invoking a special provision in NIA Act that empowers the Centre to initiate NIA probe into terror cases anywhere in the country.
This is the second time since NIA’s inception in 2008 that this provision has been used. Section 6(5) of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008, empowers the Centre to suo motu direct the agency to investigate a Scheduled offence committed anywhere in India.
The UPA Government had invoked this provision for the first time for taking over the investigations into the murder of former RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi from the Madhya Pradesh Government as his name had surfaced in Malegaon blasts involving right wing terrorists.The NIA registered the case under various Sections of Indian Penal Code, including the provision for waging war against the country, Explosive Substances Act, and various sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, a statement of NIA said.
The decision to hand over the case to the NIA was taken by the Centre in view of international ramifications of the case where some foreign nationals from neighbouring Bangladesh were also allegedly involved, official sources said.Two suspected militants were killed and another was injured in the explosion at a house in Khagragarh area of Burdwan district in West Bengal on October 2. The West Bengal Police had also arrested two women for their possible linkage with the terror outfits.
“We have received some intelligence inputs from the West Bengal Police and the NIA. Based on the information, we have launched an operation and arrested the six people. They were produced before the court of the Kamrup Chief Judicial Magistrate on Friday and were remanded in 14-day police custody. They were involved with the persons died in the Burdwan blast and had linkages with the Bangladesh-based Jamat-ul-Mujahideen,” said a senior official of the Assam Police.
He added that the interrogation was on to obtain more information regarding the spread of Islamic terror network in Assam and other parts of the North-East region.
The Assam Police has termed this arrest as one of the biggest achievements as there have been reports that the Muslim youth from different districts, including Barpeta, Dhubri and the Bodoland territorial Areas Districts (BTAD), have been joining the Islamic terror outfits in the State, particularly after the clashes between the Bodos and the Bengali speaking Muslim settlers that have rocked the BTAD since 2012.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Government has extended support to India in investigating linkages of terrorism from its soil. Bangladesh has asked India to give specific details of the investigation that point role of Islamist terror groups operating from its soil so that it can initiate action at its level.
India and Bangladesh have an agreement on anti-terrorism and both exchange sensitive information on this. Bangladesh has ensured it will not allow its territory to be used for any anti-India activities and in the past too has dismantled several terrors camps along the border. “Our investigating agencies are tabulating information that has to be given to Bangladesh,” said Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs.
Besides, in West Bengal two persons have been arrested for selling SIM cards to the terror suspects. Ashok Mukherjee and Moinul Islam, who had sold SIM cards and mobile phone sets, were arrested from their homes at Ketugram in Burdwan district. Police have also seized copies of voter ID cards and other documents from their shops.