NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency has seized five fabricated hand grenades, one-timer device, three electric circuits, suspected explosive substance, components used for making IEDs and rockets from Bengaluru that were to be used for terrorist activities in the state.
The NIA made the seizure from Soladevanahalli area in north Bengaluru on the basis of leads provided by Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh terrorist Habibur Rehman, currently, in police custody for his involvement in a 2014 blast in West Bengal’s Burdwan district, the agency said.
The blast case had unearthed a larger conspiracy to carry out several attacks in India and Bangladesh. In a statement, NIA said the hand grenades seized in Bengaluru were fabricated for use in terrorist activities in the state.
On June 25, Rehman was arrested in Bengaluru and was then sent to police custody by an NIA court. He was charge-sheeted as an absconder in Burdwan blast case.
“While evading arrest as an absconder, he was part of a JMB module which intended to wage war against the democratic set up of the state by conspiring to commit terrorist acts,” the agency said in a statement.
According to the agency, Rehman and other JMB members raised funds through dacoities in Bengaluru city in 2018.
Following the seizure of hand grenades and other material, a fresh case has been registered at Soladevanahalli police station against Rehman and other JMB cadres. Two persons were killed in a bomb explosion in a rented house in Burdwan on October 2, 2014.