BENGALURU:
National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths on Tuesday produced
terror suspect Mohammed Jahidul Islam alias Kausar alias Munir Sheikh of
Jamaat-ul-Mujhahiddin Bangladesh (JMB) before a special NIA court in Bengaluru and took him into five-day transit custody.
The NIA will now take the 38-year-old suspect to Patna where he will be produced before a court in connection with the serial blasts in
Bodh Gaya. In a joint operation, NIA and Ramanagara police had arrested Sheikh, a Bangladeshi national, from his rented house in Turup Lane and seized gelatin sticks, maps of temples and mosques in and around Bengaluru and a laptop.
A search is now on for Sheikh’s wife, Shajid Beebi, her brother and sister-in-law, who according to police, were not present in the house when it was raided.
“Sheikh will now be taken to Patna where he will be questioned about his alleged role in the Bodh Gaya blasts. NIA sleuths have definite clues to establish his hand in the serial blasts,” sources said.
The NIA said in a release that Munir Sheikh was the mastermind in the Bodh Gaya explosives case and on his directions, his close associate Mustafizur Rehman alias Shahin had arranged and assembled the bombs, which were found on January 20 this year when the Dalai Lama was on a visit to the pilgrimage town. The bombs were later deactivated. “He is the top leader of JMB (Jamaat-ul-Mujhahiddin Bangladesh) in India and is wanted in the Burdwan blasts case and in many other cases in Bangladesh,” the release said.
Police also questioned Amir Khan, owner of the double-bedroom house where Sheikh and others were living for seven months. “Khan had never asked Sheikh about his antecedents. Sheikh told him he was a cloth merchant who roamed across the country for business purposes,” police said.
(Picture used for representational purpose)
