The National Investigative Agency (NIA) has arrested the deputy chief of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Mohammed Jahidul Islam alias Boma Miyan for allegedly carrying out the blasts in Bodh Gaya in January this year ahead of a visit by the Dalai Lama.
Bangladeshi National Mohammed Jahidul Islam, who also goes by names like Kausar, Munna, Mizan and Boma Miyan, is considered to be the mastermind behind the bomb blast at Bodh Gaya. Reportedly, Kausar is also alleged to be responsible for Burdwan blasts.
NIA officials have also arrested another accused Adil alias Assadullah, a resident of village Elsiabad in district Murshidabad of West Bengal in Bangalore on Tuesday. The police have recovered mobile handsets, bank slips, handwritten notes in Bangla language and a note containing chemical formulas for preparation of IEDs. He is considered to be the right-hand man of Jahidul Hasan, the deputy chief of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
Jahidul Hasan is also wanted in various terror cases in Bangladesh. He was sentenced to 95 years of imprisonment by the Bangladeshi courts. It is reported that he escaped from custody in Bangladesh and illegally entered India.
The NIA registered a case under IPC Sections 120, 121-A, 122, 123 & 153(A); Sec 16, 18 and 20 of UA (P) Act, 1967; Sec 14, 17 and 19 of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Delivery System, UA (P)Act, 2005; and Section 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substance Act to investigate the recovery and explosion of IEDs near Kalchakra Maidan, Bodh Gaya, in Bihar.
In another severe crackdown, the NIA has also arrested two other Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) terrorists in Kerala in relation to Bodh Gaya blasts. The alleged terrorists Abdul Karim and Mustafizur Rehman are arrested for planting three IEDs at Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya in January.
The NIA is suspecting the role of few other Bangladeshi nationals in terror cases. The alleged terrorists belong to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a terrorist outfit active in the border areas of India and Bangladesh.
“The two people arrested were part of the group of around half-a-dozen JMB men who planted the IEDs. Their associates were involved in the Burdwan incident of 2014 when an accidental blast revealed the presence of a huge JMB network in the border region of Bengal. We have reason to believe that a wanted accused in the Burdwan case is the mastermind of the January Bodh Gaya incident,” said the official, who added that NIA had earlier arrested three other people in the case.
The intelligence agencies have warned the state governments that the JMB terrorists based in Bangladesh may enter states of West Bengal and Assam to increase its presence in the country by recruiting Indian Muslims into their organisation to inflict terror in the country.
The Mahabodhi temple, being one of the heritage places in the country is also a UNESCO world heritage site. The historic site has been under the target of Islamic terrorists for a very long time. The January incident was not the first time that terrorist targeted the temple. Earlier, In July 2013, more than a dozen IEDs were planted in and around the Mahabodhi temple, causing injuries to five people.
