Officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday arrested a 28-year-old terror suspect in Doddaballapur town. The accused, Habibur Rahman Sheikh, was allegedly involved in the 2014 Burdwan bomb blast case in West Bengal.
He had been on the run since then, said officials. The NIA team, which was on his trail, tracked him down to Doddaballapur. Rahman, a native of West Bengal, is suspected to be a member of the terror organisation Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
According to officials, he was living in a rented room in a mosque. “Rahman was planning to set up a pani puri vending business before he was caught,” said the police. He was produced before the NIA court in Bengaluru and taken to Kolkata on a transit warrant for further investigation. The NIA has charge-sheeted Rahman for conspiracy to wage war against the governments of India and Bangladesh.
“Rahman is a close associate of Jahidul Islam, and was known to other leaders in the terror outfit, including Rahamatullah S.K. and Moulana Yusuf. He was an active member of the JMB’s Bolpur Module in West Bengal, and had attended a number of training camps” said the NIA.
Rahman was allegedly involved in preparing a crude bomb at the house of Hasan Choudhari at Khagragarh town in Burdwan town on October 2014. The bomb exploded during the assembling process, killing two people and injuring many. The local police had registered the case which was later taken over by the NIA. In August last year, NIA officials arrested Adil Asadullah from Ramanagaram, one of Rahman’s associates.