Security agencies here knocking at Sajid’s Narayanganj address appearing in Indian media reports after his arrest, got wind of Masum but the name ‘Sajid’ rang no bells in local ears.
RAB-11 suspected Masum to be just another name for ‘Sajid’ and arrested his brother, a resident of Farazikanda of Bandar Upazila, unit commander Lt Col Anwar Latif Khan told the media, adding that efforts were on to establish the man’s identity.
Narayanganj Superintendent of Police Khondakar Mohid Uddin said, “We are not yet certain whether Sajid, the man involved in the Burdwan blast, is actually Masum of the Farazikanda.”
Indian agencies investigating a blast in which two people were killed at an alleged terrorist hideout in Khagragarh, Burdwan, in the state of West Bengal, said the incident was linked with Bangladeshi terror outfits.
India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) announced awards for the arrest of the 12 suspects it identified.
The list had the name of one Sajid, aka Sheikh Rahmatulla, aka Burhan Sheikh, carrying a reward of Rs 10,00,000 on his head. The agency said he hailed from Farazikanda in the Bandar Upazila of Narayanganj in Bangladesh.
The West Bengal Police announced on Saturday Sajid’s arrest in the state. The NIA took him into custody for interrogation after he was produced in court.
Meanwhile, RAB-11 proceeded to Farazikanda on Monday and arrested a man called Md Monayem aka Monwar Hossain aka Mona.
Law enforcers suspect Monwar, a welder, to be Sajid’s brother. Locals, however, said Monwar had a brother named Masum Mia, aka Masud, but Sajid was an unfamiliar name.
Monwar works at a workshop near his house. He was arrested there and taken to the RAB-11 headquarters at Adamji.
Lt Col Latif said Monwar had been held to ascertain the identity of Masum or Sajid.
Monwar’s wife Seema Akhter told bdnews24.com; “My husband has been detained for questioning about Masum.”
But senior RAB officer told bdnews24.com that Monwar’s interrogation had yielded no information about his brother Masum.
“But it is certain that the man arrested in India is Monwar’s brother,” the officer said on condition of anonymity.
SP Mohid Uddin said information in media reports on Sajid were being verified.
Monwar’s father Siddique Mia was a jute mill worker. Siddique is dead and his widow is bedridden. Masum was the youngest of their five sons and four daughters, their neighbours said.
There was no one except Monwar’s wife Seema at Masum’s father’s house when the investigators landed up.
Neighbours said they knew of Masum, aka Masud, one of Monwar’s brother, but he had not come back home in a long time.
A few people said they had heard of Masum’s arrest in India, but added they had never known Masum to be also known as ‘Sajid’.
Monwar’s wife said she heard from people that her brother-in-law was involved in an attack in India.
“Police came yesterday (Monday). They said Masum was the trouble-maker ‘Sajid’ in India. But we never called him by that name,” she said.
Masum had a robbery case against him. Barring this, he seems to have had no other criminal record.
The case came to light after Bandar Police Station records were searched following media reports about Masum and Monwar’s detention.
The papers showed Masum had served a jail sentence until 2000 in a robbery case in Gopalganj’s Tungiparha.
Since then, he has not been in touch with his family, his brother Mamun, a school teacher, told bdnews24.com.
“Masum had told us he used to work as an Imam in mosque and had been falsely implicated in the case because of an internal squabbling within the mosque committee,” Mamun said.
Seema Akhter said Masum was sent to a madrasa in Jatrabarhi because of the family’s financial distress after Masum’s father died. It was there he had studied and grown up.
Kolkata’s Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika said – quoting Sajid’s version in court – that he had fled Bangladesh and taken shelter in India after committing a crime.
People in Masum’s locality here said they had heard of his arrest with explosives in Chittagong in 2006 after the countrywide serial bombings in 2005.
Relatives said he was packed off to Dubai after his release on bail.
The Bandar Police Station OC said they were looking into records to see if he had been involved in any other crime.