NIA announces cash rewards for arrest of Burdwan blast accused

After gathering all the material from the Burdwan blast site in West Bengal, National Investigation Agency (NIA) today announced cash rewards for the arrest of 12 absconders who are wanted in connection with an alleged conspiracy to target installations in Bangladesh.

NIA announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh each against five absconders and another Rs 5 lakh each for three accused with Rs 3 lakh being the reward declared for the remaining four. All of them are alleged to be associated with banned terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). NIA announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh for main accused Kausar, Nasirullah, Sajid (all believed to be Bangladesh nationals) and Talha Sheikh and Maulana Yusuf Sheikh (residents of West Bengal).

It announced a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh on Amjad Ali Sheikh, Habibur Rahman Sheikh (residents of West Bengal) and Sahanur Alom (resident of Assam). For the remaining -- Abdul Kalam, Burhan Sheikh, Rejaul Karim and Jahirul Shaikh (all residents of West Bengal), the NIA announced a cash reward of Rs 3 lakh. "Co-operation of the general public is solicited for apprehending them. Anyone can inform either on phone or on e-mail about their location and movement. It is stated that identity of the informer(s) shall be kept secret," NIA said in a statement.

Public can send emails on 'assistance.nia@gov.in' and 'info.kol.nia@gov.in' besides contacting on the telephone nos. , 8285100100 in Delhi and 8336926666, 8336926633 in Kolkata. In the meantime, NIA, with the help of central security agencies, is drafting a dossier that would be sent to Bangladesh to help the country solve the case as it appears that JMB had plans to carry out a series of explosions in the neighbouring country.

In keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's line of maintaining good relations with neighbouring countries, the sources said the dossier will include the interrogation report of the three accused who have been arrested by police in connection with the case.

The interrogation reports of Razira Biwi, Alina Biwi and Badrul Aalam gave a graphic detail about the past activities of the terror outfit and their future plans, which mainly included carrying out strikes in Bangladesh and India. The three are said to have told interrogators that they were tasked with selecting many hideouts, fabricating Improvised Explosive Devices besides identifying, recruiting and indoctrinating possible cadres for the outfit from various madrasas (religious schools).

The terror outfit's network in West Bengal and Assam was set up with the purpose of building an Islamic state in Bangladesh as well as in the three West Bengal districts -- Murshidabad, Nadia, Malda -- through armed struggle, official sources said. Giving details about the plan, which failed after a blast took place inside a house in Burdwan earlier this month on October 2, the three accused are believed to have told their interrogators that IEDs were transported to Bangladesh by absconders Sheikh Kausar and Kadir for terror activities.

Kausar is believed to be a mastermind in the case who managed to flee the area apparently due to the allegedly lackadaisical approach of West Bengal Police, sources said, adding that he was hiding in Birbhum till October 5 before also escaping from there.
The arrested accused claimed that a Bangladeshi national, identified as Sajid, and wife Fatima were 'lead trainers' at Simulia where people were being trained in carrying out various terror activities. 

The arrested accused informed the interrogators that one of the accused Sajid has purchased a piece of land in Burdwan worth Rs 8.75 lakh to set up a new Madrassa. Kausar Sheikh had married an Indian girl named Jannat in 2007 and acquired Indian identity. He was lead IED maker and supplied explosives to Shakeel and Hassan. One of the motives of the JMB was to target young females from poor families to indoctrinate into jehadi ideology and eventually encourage them to marry Bangladeshi youth so that the men can gain residency in India and Indian identity.

The JMB wanted to get ready some youth with arms and explosive training and take revenge against torture of Muslims by way or armed revolution. According to the confessional statement of arrested three, one of the accused Amjad Ali provided explosives to the unit run by Shakil and he could have visited Delhi after escaping from West Bengal after the Burdwan blast.