NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested Ranjay Shah, a major accused in the Ghorasahan (Motihari) case, relating to planting of pressure cooker IED on the railway track in Motihari last year.
The agency arrested Shah from Patna on Friday and produced him before a designated court the following day. The court has remanded Shah in eight-day NIA custody.
Shah, 21, is a resident of Athmuhan village under Ghorasahan police station in Motihari district and had been arrested twice earlier for two separate cases relating to theft and violation of the Arms Act. He is a close associate of the prime accused in the case Umashankar Patel. With Shah’s arrest, the total number of arrests in the case now stands at six.
“He (Ranjay Shah) was present at the office of “Dangal Music” and assisted accused Umashankar when he prepared the bomb. He along with accused Umashankar also went to plant the same (the pressure cooker IED) on the railway track in Ghorasahan,” the NIA said in a statement released on Monday.
The case relates to planting of a pressure cooker IED on the railway track at Ghorasahan, Motihari, last year. The case was initially registered as Crime no. 19/2016 at Rail Police Station Raxaul, disctrict Muzaffarpur(Railways) on October 1, 2016 under Railways Act and Explosive Substances Act. Subsequently, during investigation, other sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act were added by the Rail Police Station, Raxaul. The NIA re-registered the case and investigation was taken up and the agency took custody of other accused already arrested in the case, including Patel, Moti Paswan and Mukesh Yadav besides two other accused persons.
The Centre had transferred the case last month to NIA following revelations by Patel that ISI was behind the plot to target railway tracks in India.