NIA team arrives in Dhaka

A team by India’s National Investigation Agency headed by Director General Sharad Kumar has arrived in Dhaka.

The Air India flight carrying the four-member team landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 10:35am Monday, said an immigration official.

The agency have been investigating Jihadi networks after the Oct 2 blast at a house in West Bengal’s Burdwan town.

That, Indian investigators say, had been turned into a factory for making Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) by militant from Bangladesh’s banned outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

The team during their two-day visit will hold meetings ‘with relevant authorities of Bangladesh’ as part of ongoing bilateral security cooperation between the neighbours, said a press note by the Indian High Commission on Sunday.

They are expected to join and work together with a Bangladesh team formed with heads of intelligence chiefs, State minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan had said.

Two suspected militants died in the explosion that rocked the Burdwan house and their two wives, believed also to be trained by the JMB, were caught.

The incident led to the unravelling of a wide terror network, the investigators said, also claiming the militants were out to eliminate two top Bangladesh politicians – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

The NIA felt the need to investigate in Bangladesh and the visit was set up after talks with Dhaka.

Several individuals have been arrested in connection with the blast including Bangladesh national Sheikh Rahmatulla Sajid of Narayanganj, allegedly a commander of the JMB’s module in West Bengal.

The Rapid Action Battalion have not been able to identify anyone named Sajid in his address provided on Indian media.

RAB-11 suspected ‘Masum Miah’ to be just another name for ‘Sajid’ and arrested his brother, a resident of Farazikanda of Bandar Upazila.