The accused was arrested from Bandel station. (Express Archive)
A Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata Police Monday arrested a man from Hooghly’s Bandel railway station in connection with a low-intensity blast at Bodh Gaya, Bihar, in January this year.
Hazibulla (57) of Samsherganj in Murshidabad is the sixth person to be arrested in connection with the blast. An IED, kept inside a flask near Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, had exploded on January 19. While the bomb had exploded in the kitchen at the temple complex, two others were found at a gate of the temple and another near a monastery. Police suspected that the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was behind the blast.
“The accused had helped in procuring explosives which were used by JMB in Bodh Gaya,” said DC (STF) Murlidhar Sharma.
Hazibulla was produced in the Bankshall court on Monday and has been remanded to police custody till June 24.
Police sources said the accused has been arrested under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging), 121A (conspiracy to wage war), 123 (concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war) and 125 (waging war) of the IPC as well as sections of the Explosives Act.
Police sources said the STF will continue to carry out raids and arrest people linked to the JMB.