BHOPAL: A 31-year-old man Jahirul Shaikh, who was wanted in the October 2, 2014 Burdwan blast case has been arrested by a team of National Investigation Agency from Madhya Pradesh’s economic capital Indore.
Originally hailing from Hayeterapara village under Thanarpara police station area of West Bengal’s Nadia district, Jahirul, an alleged member of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) terror group, was arrested from Azad Nagar locality of Indore on Monday. Unconfirmed sources said a NANO car too has been seized by the NIA.
Jahirul’s arrest from Indore assumes significance, as it came just three days prior to the Independence Day, when the country is on a heightened security alert.
He was produced before a Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) court in Indore which granted his transit remand to the NIA sleuths for enabling them to produce him before the Special NIA Cases Court in Kolkata in the 2014 blast case.
Sources privy to the development told the New Indian Express that Jahirul, who was living in Indore’s Azad Nagar area since last few years, was working as a wall painter in the city.
While confirming the arrest from Indore’s Azad Nagar area, the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG-Indore) Ruchi Vardhan said the arrested man was sent into transit remand by a local court subsequently.
The arrested man is a senior member of the JMB Nadia module in West Bengal and had attended a number of training camps conducted by the JMB, besides being involved in activities of JMB in India to further its cause.
Importantly, the arrested JMB member Jahirul (who is among the 30-odd accused charge-sheeted in the 2014 Burdwan blast case) was the car driver at the Simulia Madarsa (40 km from the blast site) that served as the training centre for the JMB terrorists. The Madrasa located 40 kms from the blast site, acted as the root of the terror module operating out of Burdwan and its neighbouring district.
Notably, after the Burdwan blast on October 2, 2014 which left two persons dead, the NIA team had recovered 41 gelatin sticks from Shaikh’s house in West Bengal. He is on the run since then.
The arrest in Indore happened two months after another JMB member and Burdwan blast accused Habibur Rehman Sheikh (28) alias Habibur or Sheikh was apprehended by the NIA from the Dodabalpur area of Bengaluru.