Man who sneaked into Mamata’s house “swum across border to Bangladesh” last year, Kolkata police say
The man, who had sneaked into West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's high-security residence at Kalighat in south Kolkata earlier this month, had visited Bangladesh last year and he may have cross-border links with a terror group, according to the city police.
Hafizul Mollah, who had intruded into Mamata's house on the intervening night of July 2-3, had swum across the border to Bangladesh during last year's Durga Puja and stayed there for a few days, a senior officer of Kolkata Police said yesterday evening (July 11, 2022), reports our New Delhi correspondent.
Mollah, who comes from Hasnabad area in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, is being interrogated to know about his activities in Bangladesh, said the officer who is part of a special investigation team that is probing the security breach at Mamata's house.
To a question, the police officer said, "There are indications that Mollah might be linked to a terror outfit. But nothing has been established as yet."
He said investigations so far have revealed that Mollah has been using at least 11 SIM cards and made calls to numbers based in Bangladesh as well as eastern Indian states of Jharkhand and Bihar. However, the nature of the conversation is yet not known, he added.
Mollah, the officer said, had recced Kalighat locality at least seven times and took photos of Mamata's residence using his mobile phone and lured local children with candies to get information about the house, said the officer.
Mollah had managed to elude the high Z-plus security and got into Mamata's residence with an iron rod. He had stayed there till he was discovered by security guards the next morning.
Mollah's police custody was extended till July 18 by a city court on Monday.
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