KOLKATA: The NIA, investigating the Burdwan blast case involving Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh terrorists, submitted at the city sessions court here on Monday its first chargesheet against 21 accused mainly under several Sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
Among those chargesheeted, eight persons, including four Bangladeshis, are absconding. Some JuMB terrorists who are in jail custody would be chargesheeted in the supplementary which will be filed later.
The NIA submitted the chargesheet within 177 days after it took over the investigation on October 10. In the blast that occurred at Khargragarh in Burdwan district on October 2, JuMB terrorists Shakil Ahmed Gazi, Suvan Mondal who was later identified as Karim Sheikh, were killed.
The Trinamool Congress Government in West Bengal led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had strongly opposed the NIA taking over the probe, but the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a notification in view of the gravity and the international ramifications as the JuMB was involved.
In its 164-page chargesheet, the NIA alleged that the JuMB had spread its network in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Assam to recruit and run its training modules in “madrasas”, where youths, including women, were indoctrinated in “jihadi” philosophy and training in arms and manufacturing explosives.
The JuMB had planned to carry out subversive activities within India but its main aim was to use the new recruits to overthrow the democratically elected Awami League Government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh, the chargesheet said.
The probe agency stated that in four districts of West Bengal - Nadia, Murshidabad, Birbhum and Burdwan, the JuMB had set up several terror modules and training centres.
During investigation, the NIA had discovered two large “madrasas” with sprawling compounds at Shimulia in Burdwan and Mekimnagar in Murshidabad districts. The sleuths also discovered the JuMB networks in Barpeta and Nalbari districts in Assam, and Sahibganj and Pakur districts in Jharkhand.
Shahnoor Alam, a “dentist” in Barpeta in Assam used to provide funds to JuMB terrorists operating in West Bengal and run “madrasas” to educate young Muslim women.