Hand grenades found in Burdwan raid

India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) yesterday recovered 40 improvised hand grenades from a house in Burdwan.     

The recovery was made when NIA investigators along with Burdwan police were searching the house of one Rezaul Karim at Mathpara on Badshahi Road near Khagragarh.

During the search, the NIA men found some sacks from which one hand grenade fell on the floor, police in Burdwan said.

National Security Guard (NSG) personnel, who are assisting the NIA in the case, were immediately called in. NSG men along with sniffer dogs found at least 40 improvised hand grenades.

The National Security Guard team camping at Burdwan is assisting the NIA investigators in safe disposal of the IEDs which are located in a thickly-populated area.

The house was cordoned off by the police, reports our New Delhi correspondent. This is one of the three houses found by the investigators to be used by the blast suspects besides the one where the explosion had taken place.

Rezaul has been missing since the October 2 blast, which left two people killed.

After the explosion, the Indian media have pointed fingers at a “Bangladesh-based terror outfit.”

In another development, one of the most wanted in the Burdwan blast case has been caught, report Times of India. 

Habibur Shiekh -- an alleged operative of the terror module and trainer at the Simulia madrasa -- was nabbed by a NIA team from Muluk on the outskirts of Bolpur town on Wednesday.

He had fled his hideout in Murshidabad's Baburbagh, along with Kausar, soon after being tipped off by Amina Bibi within minutes of the Khagragarh blast on October 2.

Habibur is a relative of Kausar's brother-in law Kader Shiekh of Dakshin Nimra village -- a stone's throw from the home of President Pranab Mukherjee's elder sister.

A resident of Muluk, Habibur used to frequent the president's native village, Kirnahar. Mukherjee was in the village for Durga Puja when the IEDs exploded in Khagragarh.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) team was possibly tipped off about Habibur after questioning a shopkeeper in Nimra detained by police.

Habibur's mother Jyotsna Bibi, who saw pictures of him on television, said: "My son has been arrested. I have no idea where he is. He stopped coming home about two years ago."

Habibur's arrest comes a day before terror suspect Abdul Hakim, who was injured in the October 2 blast, is likely to be released from SSKM Hospital.

NIA plans to interrogate Habibur with the inputs its officers have got from questioning Hakim all these days in hospital.

The agency also detained alleged Kader aide Hifzulla Kaji from Kirnahar market on Wednesday. According to police, Kader had ganged up with a group of local youths, including Hifzulla.

The agency discovered two more suspicious constructions in Burdwan. One of them is in Nigon village, about 5km from the Simulia madrassa that was allegedly used to indoctrinate and train women recruits for Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

The second unfinished building is on a 25-cottah plot at Tamilpukur, just one and a half kilometres from the Simulia madrassa.

According to land department officers, the Tamilpukur plot was sold at double the market price. The land belonged to Madhusudan Ghosh, Brindaban Ghosh and Gobardhan Ghosh.

On Wednesday, NIA questioned the three who conceded that buyers Yousuf Shiekh and Burhan Shiekh had paid them Rs 8.75 lakh in cash when the market price was Rs 4 lakh.

Not only that, members of the terror module managed to change the land-use pattern of the plot from “agricultural” to “bastu land” while government officials looked the other way, say sources.

"The property was registered on February 14, 2014, and sale deed showed the price as Rs 3.75 lakh only," said a Mongolkote police officer.

Interrogation of Amina Bibi and Rumi Bibi, alleged hit squad members of JMB, revealed that the cost of the upcoming building along with the boundary wall was estimated at Rs 55 lakh, say sources.

In another significant development, NIA officers have found blood stains in the Nano car found parked near the Simulia madrassa.

Investigators fear that Sahidul might have driven some of those injured in the Khagragarh blast to safe destinations. The Indian Army sticker pasted on the car has given a new dimension to the blast probe.

NIA believes the sticker was genuine and procured from the Army base at Nasik, home to the Artillery Regiment HQ. The revelation has prompted the Centre to deploy a host of central agencies -- including NSG and Enforcement Directorate -- in the probe.