Key accused Sajid taken on remand
A court in Kolkata yesterday remanded Sajid, the main accused in the Burdwan blast case, in the custody of India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) till November 20.
"Sajid, the mastermind in the Burdwan blast, admitted before the court that he had served several years in Bangladesh jails and fled to India earlier in the year. Investigations have revealed he used to teach in madarsas and impart jihadi ideology," NIA prosecutor S K Ghosh told reporters in Kolkata.
Sajid, stated to be a Bangladeshi national and also chief of the Burdwan module of the banned Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), was arrested on Saturday near the Kolkata airport by West Bengal police. He was later handed over to NIA which is probing the case.
"We have secured his custody and his interrogation will help us unravel the entire conspiracy," Ghosh said.
He also said police recovered several fake voter identity cards and driving licences from Sajid who wanted to live in India as a citizen.
In a late night statement issued on Saturday, NIA gave the actual identity of Sajid and his address in Bangladesh.
SK Rahamatulla alias Sajid, son of Siddique Miyan, a retired lieutenant of Bangladesh army, was arrested by police from Jessore Road in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. He hails from Farajikanda village under Bandar police station in Narayanganj of Bangladesh, the statement said.
West Bengal police sources said Sajid was apprehended when he was probably headed for Jessore.
Sajid was one of the end links to supplying explosives to Rajshahi and other areas of Bangladesh from Murshidabad's border areas in West Bengal, they added.
Kausar, another accused in the Burdwan blast case, used to carry explosives from Shakil Ahmed, who had been killed in the blast, to places in Murshidabad district, according to police sources.
NIA in a press release said Zia-ul-Haque, who was arrested in Kolkata on Friday in connection with the Burdwan blast case, had disclosed that he was closely associated with top JMB leaders including Sajid.
Over the past three days, three key links in JMB network were arrested by West Bengal and Assam police. The arrestees are Sajid, Zia-ul-Haque, and Sujana Begum, wife of another accused in the case.
Several people including two women are behind bars in connection with the blast case.
On October 2, the blast took place inside a house at Khagragarh in Burdwan in which two suspected terrorists died.
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