Staff Reporter :In a major breakthrough, Kolkata police on Saturday arrested the main accused in Burdwan blast, Sajid, a Bangladeshi national and chief commander of terror group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).He was arrested from near the Airport Thana on the Jessore Road at 2:30pm, according to online report of the Ananda Bazar Patrika. Sajid had been extensively questioned by the police and sleuths of central agencies about the functioning of JMB and its plans in India and Bangladesh.Rajiv Kumar, Commissioner of Bidhannagar City Police, said, Sajid, resident of Narayanganj, is a member of the Majlish-e-Shura of JMB.He said that the police intercepted a courier carrying money and traced the whereabouts of Sajid who confessed that he was involved with the blast.”The ATS (Anti-Trrorism Squad) team based on an information about illegal money transaction, initially intercepted a courier which was to receive the money. The courier agreed to keep Sajid (provide shelter to him) for some time,” he said.Sajid was arrested under Section 41 of the Cr. P.C and will be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Earlier, the NIA has declared a bounty of Rs 10 lakh leading to any information regarding Sajid’s arrest. As per information given by the agency Sajid, 40, is a “suspected national of Bangladesh”. He was staying near Lalgola Madrasa in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district before the explosion.Earlier, the NIA arrested five persons including two women in connection with the blast. The NIA had made its fifth arrest on Friday when they apprehended Zia-ul-Haque, a close associate of Rezaul Karim, another suspect in the blast, from Malda district. Two persons died in the accidental blast inside a house at Khagragarh in Burdwan town on October 2. The NIA handed over the probe report a week later.Meanwhile, Zia-ul-Haque, who was arrested on Friday in connection with the Burdwan blast, was sent to seven-day NIA custody by a Sessions Court in Kolkata.Producing the accused to the court of Mumtaj Khan, NIA counsel Shyamal Ghosh prayed for 14 days’ remand but the court granted seven days only.The NIA counsel pleaded that since the probe was in an early stage, a longer custody would enable the investigating agency to gather more information from the accused.The agency said that Haque was a member of the JMB and was also in contact with absconding Yusuf Sheikh alias Moulana Yusuf.The NIA on Friday arrested Haque for allegedly indoctrinating youth for training by showing ‘Jihadi’ videos related to Gujarat and Assam violence.
