In a major breakthrough, Chhattisgarh Police on Tuesday arrested a suspected Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative from Jharkhand and brought him to Raipur. He was wanted for the 2013 Bodhgaya and Patna bomb blasts.
Shrawan Kumar Mandal, 41, had been absconding since 2013, the police said.
Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal told The Pioneer that Mandal was involved in raising funds for a banned outfit with his Bihar-based relative, Dheeraj Sao.
Sao, also a suspected SIMI and IM operative, was arrested for his involvement in raising funds for the banned outfits in December 2013. He ran a roadside eatery in Raipur when he was arrested.
Sao, Jubair Khan, Ayesha Bano, Raju Khan and one more person have been arrested so far, Agrawal said.
Mandal was booked for terror funding, Agrawal said. He told the police that he came in contact with the Pakistan-based Khalid in 2011 through his relative Sao.
As money transaction worth crores of rupees was done by Mandal, he allegedly got 13 percent as commission for terror finding.
The Buddhist pilgrimage town of Bodh Gaya was rocked by a series of blasts on July 7, 2013, injuring several people.
Five Indian Mujahideen militants, convicted by a NIA court for the blasts, were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018.
In Patna, a series of bombs exploded at an election rally of then Gujarat Chief Minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi killing six people.